An Overview of the Recent Advances in Additive Manufacturing, and Its Scope for the Benefit of Research and Development in Commercial Vehicle Industries

For innovators, the fourth industrial transformation is a boon. It has provided a greater and broader scope for the improvement of existing findings, and the development of new and emerging proof of concepts. It has introduced elements that are completely new to the core-manufacturing sectors as well as the research sectors, including cloud computing, internet of things (IoT), big data analytics, additive manufacturing (AM), and many others. When it is up to a manufacturing unit, or a research and development center, prototyping is one of its crucial functions, which is done to analyze the functionality of that particular component before it is actually manufactured for production. Years ago, prototyping was about making conceptual sketches and paper prototypes, but now, it is not the same as it was. The modern world has evolved to the latest prototyping techniques that include digital techniques such as virtual and augmented reality, and AM (3D printing). The quality of the parts produced by the AM method gets better with time therefore to current technical developments in electrical, electronic, and material sciences. The objective of this study is to determine how AM can be applied to provide faster-to-market solutions, prototype parts with reduced mass, and retain its functional efficiency. This work represents an explicit study on how the latest AM techniques can benefit prototyping, and the research & development unit of commercial vehicle manufacturing industries, the impact of implementing AM for making fully functional products, and its scope for mass production in the future.