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4D Printing: An Emerging Technology in Manufacturing?

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Digitally Supported Innovation

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation ((LNISO,volume 18))

Abstract

The paper highlights the possible technological evolution in the Lean manufacturing that concerns 4D Printing. To date there are not case studies of 4D printing application able to demonstrate the effective use of 4D Printing, and its results on the production cycles. The purpose of this article is to review the state of the art of the developments in four dimensional (4D) Printing, through a literature review, in order to define the 4D Printing characteristics, to examine its perspectives for the future application in manufacturing and to identify the potential benefits and manufacturing advantages.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “A voxel is a volumetric pixel, often used to define the fundamental unit of digital space and Programmable Matter. Voxels can be both digital and physical. Digital voxel are computational representation in 3D models. Physical voxel may be comprised of materials as diverse as basic raw materials (e.g., titanium), nanomaterials, integrated circuits, biological materials, and micro-robotics, among others” [16].

  2. 2.

    Kaikaku is characterized by two terms: “Kai”, meaning to change and “Kaku”, meaning to transform. The method is a radical change and it aims to reform entire system. Kaikaku creates a breakthrough using new model in the lean production [18].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Università Di Roma, Sapienza, Italy

    Alessandra Ghi & Francesca Rossetti

Authors
  1. Alessandra Ghi
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  2. Francesca Rossetti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandra Ghi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, Milano, Italy

    Leonardo Caporarello

  2. Department of Economics, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Fabrizio Cesaroni

  3. School of Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Raphael Giesecke

  4. Inst. of Sc. and Techn. of Cognition, Rome, Italy

    Michele Missikoff

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Ghi, A., Rossetti, F. (2016). 4D Printing: An Emerging Technology in Manufacturing?. In: Caporarello, L., Cesaroni, F., Giesecke, R., Missikoff, M. (eds) Digitally Supported Innovation. Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40265-9_12

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