An Optimal Quantity of Scheduling Model for Mass Customization-Based Additive Manufacturing

The purpose of this study is to optimize production planning decisions in additive manufacturing for mass customization (AMMC) systems in which customer demands are highly variable. The main research question is to find the optimal quantity of products for scheduling, the economic scheduling quantity (ESQ). If the scheduling quantity is too large, the time to collect customer orders increases and a penalty cost occurs due to the delay in responding to consumer demands. On the other hand, if the scheduling quantity is too small, the number of parts per jobs decreases and parts are not efficiently packed within a workspace and consequently the build process cost increases. An experiment is provided for the case of stereolithography (SLA) and 2D packing to demonstrate how the build time per part increases as the scheduling quantity decreases. In addition, a mathematical framework based on ESQ is provided to evaluate the production capacity in satisfying the market demand.