Driving Innovation to Support the Warfighter: Additive Manufacturing Initiatives Within the Defense Logistics Agency

Abstract : The spotlight is on for additive manufacturing (AM) in the commercial sector, but it is also intense for the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which hopes to capitalize on the promise of innovation to improve readiness and support to the military. As it tracks AM through the Gartner Hype Cycle, which depicts phases that innovations move through from the initial Innovation Trigger through the Plateau of Productivity, is DLA headed down the trough of disillusionment or up the slope of enlightenment to a productive plateau for AM investments? (See Figure 1.) The productive plateau is where mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined and the technology's broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.