Prosumption perspectives on additive manufacturing: reconfiguration of consumer products with 3D printing

Purpose This paper aims to examine the changing backdrop of the consumer market in relation to three-dimensional (3D) printing, especially in the context of Web infrastructure that connects consumers and producers with unprecedented diversity and scale and Web 2.0 user-created content in the material domain. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a conceptual architecture and software platform that facilitates do-it-yourself reconfiguration of existing products incorporating 3D printing, mobile 3D sensor, augmented reality (AR) and Web technologies. Findings This work shows that prosumer reconfiguration of consumer products is the major paradigm in the era of democratized production. The results suggest that this approach may be used in the consumer market to meet consumer preferences for adopting innovations without redundant consumption. Research limitations/implications Verification of the proposed conceptual approach is limited to the use of household consumer products. A critical mass of participants and product information are both necessary to achieve a sustainable ecosystem from the proposed platform. Intellectual property issues rely on the fair use of end-user production in this paper. Social implications The proposed approach allows users to swap out consumer product parts or upgrade individual modules as innovations emerge, extending the lifecycles of consumer products and potentially reducing consumer waste. Originality/value There is a lack of work on facilitating the proliferation of practical 3D printing through prosumption in relation to existing consumer products. This paper’s scientific contribution involves how 3D printing affords social manufacturing and consumer-oriented presumption in conjunction with mobile 3D sensor, AR, and Web technologies.