Adoption of Additive Manufacturing in Dental Technology Companies in Sweden : Comparitive Case Study

Sammanfattning: Additive Manufacturing (AM) is one of the most advanced processes of producing high quality parts. In dentistry, AM has a wide range of applications, some of the most common applications are dentures, crowns, clear and hard tooth aligner, and anatomical and training models. Irrespective of its advantages, AM technology have not been used to its fullest potential. Research shows that there is very little knowledge on the organizational characteristics, environmental characteristics, and the technological factors that affects the organizational adoption of AM technology. The aim of the research is to understand the characteristics and the factors affecting the adoption decision among adopters and non-adopters of AM technology in dental technology companies. To answer the research questions, qualitative research method is used in this study. The data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with both the adopters and non-adopters of AM technology within the dental technological companies. The data collected was compared between the adopters and non-adopters. The main findings show that the adopters have a positive experience on AM technology and there is willingness to adopt AM technology in both adopters and non-adopters. Regarding the environmental characteristics, the practice of dentists was a major characteristic that impacted AM adoption. The technological factors related to the AM technology were identified to be the main drivers of technology adoption and the cost of AM machining was identified to be the main barrier of AM technology. The final findings from this research were that the technological factors, environmental factors, and the organizational factors are crucial for the successful organizational adoption of the technology.