Describing Additive Manufacturing as an Industrial Internet of Things System

Additive Manufacturing, also known as 3D-printing, is a concept for the layer-by-layer manufacturing of three-dimensional parts based on a digital product model. Research in recent years supported the development of new Additive Manufacturing technologies. Additionally, a rise of Additive Manufacturing platforms can be observed recently. Business leaders are challenged by the multitude of decisions they must make in structuring, describing, and implementing their business vision of Additive Manufacturing. The paper shows, that via the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture and its four viewpoints, Additive Manufacturing systems can be described. Therefore, Additive Manufacturing systems can be seen as an Industrial Internet of Things systems. To further improve a framework tailored towards Additive Manufacturing, a research agenda of new elements supporting the viewpoints of the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture was developed. Our work is based on an explorative case study with an Additive Manufacturing contract manufacturer and Additive Manufacturing platform and is located in the field of design-oriented information systems research.