On-demand manufacturing has the power to reshape industrial supply chains. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is a transformative tool—one that enables faster, more flexible production of spare parts, delivered locally and exactly when needed.
The question isn’t whether it works. That’s already been answered. The real challenge is how we make it work reliably, repeatedly, and at scale.
From One-Off Success to Scalable Infrastructure
At every industry event, I see real-world use cases proving that on-demand manufacturing can solve critical problems faster than traditional methods. But the story is often the same: manual coordination, endless emails and calls, and a heavy reliance on a few experienced individuals.
That’s the bottleneck. The issue isn’t capability—it’s consistency. If on-demand manufacturing is to become a true pillar of industrial supply chains, it needs to be more than an exception. It must be easy to adopt, repeatable across use cases, and accessible to users who aren’t additive manufacturing experts.
At Fieldnode, we believe the key lies in building the digital infrastructure that enables scale. We’ve focused on removing friction, automating workflows, and empowering users across the ecosystem to adopt on-demand manufacturing without reinventing the wheel every time.
Driving Value Across the Supply Chain
The benefits of digital inventory and on-demand production extend across the supply chain—from operators and OEMs to service providers and local manufacturing partners.
For operators, it reduces spare part lead times and simplifies logistics, helping maximize uptime and lower costs. For OEMs, it enables faster delivery while preserving quality, IP protection, and compliance. And for service providers, it opens up new business opportunities through streamlined, standardized, digital collaboration.
This isn’t about replacing existing supply chains. It’s about enhancing them—creating shared technical and commercial value through closer integration and smarter tools.
Quality, Compliance, and Collaboration by Design
However, none of this matters without quality and trust. That’s why, in our joint project with ConocoPhillips, Shell, Equinor, Vår Energi, ExxonMobil, Woodside Energy, TotalEnergies, and bp, we didn’t just meet existing standards—we helped evolve them.
Together, we built digital tools to support each step of the process, aligning how operators and suppliers collaborate. The goal wasn’t just to enable 3D-printed spare parts—it was to make the process repeatable, auditable, and usable in difficult real-world operations.
From Vision to Reality
On-demand manufacturing shouldn’t be a one-off success driven by individual champions. It should be a dependable part of every resilient supply chain. That’s the future we’ve built with our industry joint project.
To succeed the industry needs more than just a platform for digital parts—it needs the tools, infrastructure, and ecosystem to make on-demand manufacturing scalable, reliable, and ready for everyday use.
That’s our mission—and our belief.
Martin Andersson
COO at Fieldnode
Former Project Manager, Industry Collaboration Project (ICP)
