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Present for more than 20 years, 3D food printing (3DFP) technology has not experienced the same widespread adoption as its non-food counterparts. It is believed that relevant business models are crucial for its expansion. The purpose of this study is to identify the dominant prototypical business models and patterns in the 3DFP industry. The knowledge gained could be used to provide directions for business model innovation in this industry.

The authors established a business model framework and used it to analyse the identified 3DFP manufacturers. The authors qualitatively identified the market’s prototypical business models and used agglomerative hierarchical clustering to extract further patterns.

All identified 3DFP businesses use the prototypical business model of selling ownership of physical assets, with some variations. Low-cost 3D food printers for private usage and dedicated 3D food printers for small-scale food producers are the two primary patterns identified. Furthermore, several benefits of 3DFP technology are not being used, and the identified manufacturers are barely present in high-revenue markets, which prevents them from driving technological innovation forward.

The extracted patterns can be used by the companies within the 3DFP industry and even in other additive manufacturing segments to reflect upon, refine or renew their business model. Some directions for business model innovation in this industry are provided.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study to give an account of the current 3DFP business models and their possible evolution. This study also contributes to the business model patterns methodological development.

The study aims to develop an integrated model for three-dimensional (3D) printing adoption in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) context to form a baseline for more theoretical and empirical debate from emerging markets.

A qualitative approach with a convenience sample is adopted since there is no formal body that has accurate data about the number of companies, governmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations, universities, labs, etc. that already have adopted 3D printing.

The results indicate that the technological usefulness of 3D printing and its ease-of-use factor were found to be lacking among community members and governmental officials. Yet, these factors were the most influential factor affecting the spread of 3D printing technology adoption in the GCC countries. Nevertheless, the adaptation of 3D printing is not yet at the level of its global markets, nor is it used within leading companies’ assembly lines. In addition, the 3D printing awareness and use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the adaptation rate is still below expectations due to several challenges that face the growth of the 3D printing market in the GCC countries. The most vital challenge facing 3D printing growth is manifested in governmental policies and regulations.

Companies’ managers can benefit from the current study results by focusing on the factors that facilitate 3D adoption and avoiding bottle-neck factors that hinder the speed of the 3D adoption. 3D providers can also benefit by understanding the factors that affect 3D adoption and designing their machine and marketing strategy in a way that helps the intended companies to easily adopt 3D printing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that explored 3D printing adoption on the GCC countries’ level. It also adds a new flavor to the literature by exploring 3D adoption during the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased demand for medical and protective equipment by frontline health workers, as well as the general community, causing the supply chain to stretch beyond capacity, an issue further heightened by geographical and political lockdowns. Various 3D printing technologies were quickly utilised by businesses, institutions and individuals to manufacture a range of products on-demand, close to where they were needed. This study gathered data about 91 3D printed projects initiated prior to April 1, 2020, as the virus spread globally. It found that 60% of products were for personal protective equipment, of which 62% were 3D printed face shields. Fused filament fabrication was the most common 3D print technology used, and websites were the most popular means of centralising project information. The project data provides objective, quantitative insight balanced with qualitative critical review of the broad trends, opportunities and challenges that could be used by governments, health and medical bodies, manufacturing organisations and the 3D printing community to streamline the current response, as well as plan for future crises using a distributed, flexible manufacturing approach.

The purpose of this paper is to give an insight into relevant aspects of 3D printing of clay paste enhanced with scrap polymer powder which have not been investigated by previous studies. Specifically, the geometrical features of the deposited lines, dimensional accuracy of benchmarks and mechanical properties of printed parts are investigated.

Firstly, the 3D printer is used to deposit lines of the paste under various combinations of material composition and process parameters. 3D scanning is used to measure their dimensional and geometrical errors. The results are elaborated through statistics to highlight the role of material and processing conditions. Then, four benchmark parts are printed using materials with different percentages of polymer powder. The parts are scanned after each step of the post-processing to quantify the effects of printing, drying and melting on dimensional accuracy. Finally, drop weight tests are carried out to investigate the impact resistance of specimens with different powder contents.

It is found that the quality of deposition varies with the printing speed, nozzle acceleration and material composition. Also, significant differences are observed at the ends of the lines. Materials with 10 Wt.% and 40 Wt.% of powder exhibit relevant shape variations due to the separation of phases. Accuracy analyses show significant deformations of parts at the green state due to material weight. This effect is more pronounced for higher powder contents. On the other hand, the polymer reduces shrinkage during drying. Furthermore, the impact test results showed that the polymer caused a large increase in impact resistance as compared to pure clay. Nonetheless, a decrease is observed for 40 Wt.% due to the higher amount of porosities.

The results of this study advance the knowledge on the 3D printing of clay paste reinforced with a scrap polymer powder. This offers a new opportunity to reuse leftover powders from powder bed fusion processes. The findings presented here are expected to foster the adoption of this technique reducing the amount of waste powder disposed of by additive manufacturing companies.

This study offers some important insights into the relations between process conditions and the geometry of the deposited lines. This is of practical relevance to toolpath planning. The dimensional analyses allow for understanding the role of each post-processing step on the dimensional error. Also, the comparison with previous findings highlights the role of part dimensions. The present research explores, for the first time, the impact resistance of parts produced by this technology. The observed enhancement of this property with respect to pure clay may open new opportunities for the application of this manufacturing process.

Fashion products such as clothes, accessories, bags and footwear created using 3D printed technology are referred to as 3D printed fashion (3DPF) products. This study investigates consumers' motivation to purchase 3DPF products. In particular, this study adopts a multi-dimensional approach to explore the effects of personality-related traits such as innate, domain-specific and actualized innovativeness, as well as examine the effects of perceptions toward 3D printing technology (3DPT) (i.e. perceived security risk, performance expectancy). Based on the concepts of consumer innovativeness and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the authors expect the effects of consumers' innovativeness and perception of 3DPT and confirm its significant effects on a positive attitude toward 3DPF products and future purchase intention of 3DPF products.

A quantitative research design (i.e. survey) is utilized to examine the suggested relationships and application of existing theory in this study. All measurement items are adapted from previous literature and use a Likert-scale. The authors examined a total of 326 responses using a series of statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, structural equation modeling and conditional process modeling.

The results of this study confirmed that innate and domain-specific innovativeness are critical antecedents of creating a positive attitude toward using 3DPF products through perceptions toward 3DPT. In addition, 3DPF innovativeness, as actualized innovativeness, was validated to strengthen the relationship between personal innovativeness and attitude, providing evidence that innovation-related traits can predict behaviors. Interestingly, technological innovativeness was not found to be a predictor of perceived security risk. It may be due that 3DPF products are still novel to consumers.

The study participants were people who were interested in technology, not consumers who had prior experience with using 3DPF products. Future studies are encouraged to include consumers who have actually purchased or used 3DPF products.

The findings of this study indicate that consumers' use of new technology is determined by personality and interest in specific product categories. Practitioners may use this information to segment/target consumer groups to introduce a new/unfamiliar product.

The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on consumer adoption of innovation by combining two approaches, the hierarchy of consumer innovativeness and the UTAUT, in the context of advanced technology adoption behavior.

This research aims to investigate critical success factors, barriers and initiatives of total productive maintenance (TPM) implementation in selected manufacturing industries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

This study built and looked into a conceptual research framework. The potential barriers and success factors to TPM implementation have been highlighted. The primary study techniques used to collect relevant data were a closed-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions. With the use of SPSS version 23 and SmartPLS 3.0 software, the data were examined using descriptive statistics and the inferential Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques.

According to the results of descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis using PLS-SEM, the case manufacturing industries' TPM implementation initiative is in its infancy; break down maintenance is the most widely used maintenance policy; top managers are not dedicated to the implementation of TPM; and there are TPM pillars that have been weakly and strongly addressed by the case manufacturing companies.

The small sample size is a limitation to this study. It is therefore challenging to extrapolate the research findings to other industries. The only manufacturing KPI utilized in this study is overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). It is possible to add more parameters to the manufacturing performance measurement KPI. The relationships between TPM and other lean production methods may differ from those observed in this cross-sectional study. Longitudinal experimental studies and in-depth analyses of TPM implementations may shed further light on this.

Defining crucial success factors and barriers to TPM adoption, as well as identifying the weak and strong TPM pillars, will help companies in allocating their scarce resources exclusively to the most important areas. TPM is not a quick solution. It necessitates a change in both the company's and employees' attitude and their values, which takes time to bring about. Hence, it entails a long-term planning. The commitment of top managers is very important in the initiatives of TPM implementation.

This study is unique in that, it uses a new conceptual research model and the PLS-SEM technique to analyze relationships between TPM pillars and OEE in depth.

I seek to identify whether cash flow management can affect the performance and risk of the Greek listed companies.

This study examines the relationship of cash flow management with performance and risk, using a sample of 80 non-financial companies listed in the Athens Exchange. The study covers the period 2018–2022, and panel data analysis is applied. Both financial performance and stock return are taken into consideration, while risk concerns the volatility of the companies’ share prices. The various explanatory variables used include the net cash flow, free cash flow, cash conversion cycle days, cash flow from operating activities, cash flow from investing activities, cash flow from financing activities, inventory days, customer days and supplier days.

The empirical results provide evidence of a positive relationship between financial performance and net cash flow and free cash flow. In addition, operating cash flow is positively related to financial performance. The opposite is the case for investing and financing cash flow. Finally, some evidence of a negative relationship between financial performance and inventory and customer days is provided too. On the other hand, stock return and risk are not related to the cash flow management variables at all.

To the best of my knowledge, this is one of the few studies to examine the relationship of cash flow management with performance and risk, using data from the Greek stock market. The results can form an effective selection tool for investors seeking Greek companies with the highest financial performance potential, which may reward them with higher dividends.

The concept of lean and ISO 14001 as a combined approach is an evolving strategy for streamlining operational processes and attaining environmental sustainability in the manufacturing context. This paper explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for a combined lean and ISO 14001 implementation in the manufacturing industry for achieving the operational and environmental benefits.

A systematic literature review (SLR) based on Scopus and Web of Science databases is conducted to present peer-reviewed articles on the CSFs for lean and ISO 14001 implementation in manufacturing operations. This article applies the CSF theory to classify the CSFs for a joint lean and ISO 14001 adoption.

Numerous CSFs are synthesised from the SLR across seven theoretical contexts of industry, competitive strategy, managerial position, environmental, temporal, internal/external, monitoring and building/adapting factors for a combined lean and ISO14001 implementation.

Numerous CSFs are synthesised from the SLR across seven theoretical contexts of strategic direction, competitive strategy, leadership and management, environmental, temporal, internal/external, monitoring and continuous process improvement factors for a combined lean and ISO 14001 implementation.

This paper contributes to academic scholarship by providing a theoretical perspective through classification of CSFs for a combined lean and ISO 14001 implementation to achieve operational and environmental performance. This paper also contributes to practitioners and policymakers who can use the emergent theoretical framework for application in practice for a more efficient and effective deployment of both strategies in the manufacturing industry.

To the best of author's knowledge, this study is the first to propose a theoretical framework of CSFs for a combined lean and ISO 14001 implementation based on the CSF theory and SLR findings in the manufacturing industry.

3D food printing technology is an emerging smart technology, which because of its inbuilt capabilities, has the potential to support a sustainable supply chain and environmental quality management. This new technology needs a supportive ecosystem, and thus, this paper identifies and models the enablers for adopting 3D printing technology toward a sustainable food supply chain.

The enablers were identified through an extensive literature review and verified by domain experts. The identified enablers were modelled through the hybrid total interpretive structural modelling approach (TISM) and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach.

It emerged that stakeholders need technical know-how about the 3D printing technology, well supported by a legal framework for clear intellectual property rights ownership. Also, the industry players must have focused and clear strategic planning, considering the need for sustainable supply chains. Moreover, required product innovation as per customer needs may enhance the stakeholders' readiness to adopt this technology.

The framework proposed in this research provides managers with a hierarchy and categorization of adoption enablers which will help them adopt 3D food printing technology and improve environmental quality.

This research offers a framework for modelling the enablers for 3D food printing to develop a sustainable food supply chain using the TISM and DEMATEL techniques.