The purpose of a supply chain is to move goods and services from one place to another in order to meet user demand. Over the decades, we’ve built coupled-networks based on principles of regionalization or centralization of function, location, and cost-efficiency. COVID is an example of the uncertainty supply chains face daily derived from old-school thinking and design.

Imagine a world where supply chains are flipped upside down, a world where we send files, not parts? A world that empowers the end consumer to produce what is needed on-demand through cloud-based technology, including recycling on-site in a circular transition?

In Episode 41, Espen Sivertsen, CEO Ivaldi, joins Sheri Hinish to talk about the future of digital supply chains, on-demand additive manufacturing, and the business case for change, industrial sustainability, and the power of diversity in technology.

Espen talks about Ivaldi’s part in the SAP.iO Foundry Bootcamp and shares observations he has gathered from Silicon Valley and beyond, that diversity fuels innovation. Segments Ivaldi serves include maritime, industrial, mining, energy (gas turbines and power plants), and automotive.

In the podcast, Espen’s shares one of his guiding quotes from environmentalist Wendell Berry, “we did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” He also dives into the sustainability aspects of on-demand, additive, local manufacturing environments through digital distribution.

Digital distribution is the process of sending digital part files to local manufacturers for on-demand production and distribution. It bypasses physical distribution limitations such as sourcing disruptions, carry costs, late shipments, minimum quantities, obsolete inventory, and environmental contamination by storing parts in a virtual warehouse and only manufacturing parts when and where they are needed through a distributed network of local manufacturers.

As production tools such as 3D printing, robotic fabrication, and other CNC systems get faster, better, and cheaper, an increasing range of parts can be cost-effective to manufacture on-demand. Digital distribution is fundamentally changing supply chain dynamics as user-needs supplant centralized manufacturing limitations as the driving force in the industry.

This episode is part of a new partnership highlighting innovation and diversity in supply chain startups at SAP.iO.

To listen to the podcast, visit Supply Chain Revolution.