The Philosopher's Stone for Sustainability

Service is a fundamental activity of human beings. It existed from old days since they live collectively. The necessary medium to organize a good society is friendly mutual help among members, which is essential for humans to survive by making a group or society compensating humans’ weakness. Service is a typical mutual help which decides the shape of society. So, we must notice that service has been a basic activity of human beings through long history and the ability of servicing is a fundamental attribute of human beings for their survival.

Product-Service Systems have gathered a strong focus in research during the last years. Especially Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

2

) focusing on industrial applications need new methods and tools that support the integration of products and services over the whole life cycle. The collaborative research project SFB/TR 29 has developed a range of new methods from the planning phase to the operation phase of IPS

2

. This paper provides a summary of the planning and development methods and tools and their relations. A generic IPS

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Development Process Model structures the methods and tools to create an integrated IPS

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model for the further IPS

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operation. The described approaches can be used for marketing, requirements engineering, concept development and design.

This paper describes value-sharing Monozukuri, in which a manufacturer and its users have a mutual partnership and exchange valuable information through a product and its services. Manufacturers make products and services by taking into account the usages and lifestyles of the users. In addition, the users may choose better products or better services, finding value in them often by thinking about why the manufacturers designed and made them the way they did. Based on experiences in manufacturing industries in Japan, the concept of value-sharing Monozukuri is presented. Such Monozukuri will contribute to all manufacturing industries as a new form of dynamism.

The paper proposes criteria that can be used for selection of design methods on strategic and operational levels in Functional Product development. The paper draws on research from general product development and specific research within Product-Service Systems and Functional Products, combined with empirical data from interviews with four organizations concerned with Functional Product development. The use of many design methods requires resources such as knowledge and skills, which may not always be feasible to keep in-house. However, the key design methods needed in-house should be identified, added to the set of approved design methods and granted adequate resource allocation.

This paper addresses a modeling methodology for visualization of a system of a hardware and software. Today, based on energy diversification, re-design of current system for supplying electric power is required. Using renewable energy sources, the electric power supplying system is supposed to be changed drastically on the system level considering economic reasonability, stability, robustness for disaster. This paper proposes a system design methodology based on modeling, simulation, evaluation, and restructuring process. A fast cycle from modeling and evaluation allows a designer to design better system. The renewable energy sources such as sun shining or wind speed easily changes according to the nature condition. In order to reflect the characteristics of renewable energy, this paper proposes a function-behavior- structure modeling method for visualization of electric power supply. Based on the FBS model, the system design and evaluation is accelerated.

Customer requirements – mainly expressed function oriented – have to be fulfilled with adequate products. Knowing the dependencies of functional oriented requirements and the corresponding product elements is a prerequisite for configuration. The paper presents an approach for generating an architecture for Product-Service Systems (PSS) including functional and physical modularization and a mapping of functional to physical modules. Further on, the paper provides a framework of a method for a standardized interface description of product and service modules. Based on the PSS-architecture and the interface description an individual, customer oriented configuration of PSS is possible.

Developers still face challenges in the development of PSS. Existing (product-oriented) methods are not adapted to the requirements of tangible products and services at the same time. Furthermore, learning from existing systems is not fostered by present methods. To meet these challenges, existing PSS were separated into its components. Based on the Case-based Reasoning approach a logic for the description of the relevant components was developed and implemented as a software prototype. A query mechanism allows searching for existing PSS which are of a special interest in whole or in individual components due to their similarity to new PSS ideas.

Product-Service Systems (PSS) have been regarded as a new business concept for manufacturing companies to enhance the value of their products. Since both products and services are included in the design objects, PSS design requires a broader range of knowledge to generate ideas for its design solutions. In this paper, for the purpose of supporting idea generation in PSS design, a knowledge-based design support method is proposed. The basic feature of the proposed method is providing knowledge collected from PSS cases. The effectiveness of the proposed method is presented on the basis of its application to an example.

The design phase of a Product-Service System (PSS) offers limited time to apply a comprehensive study of the potential product and service based options that are available to satisfy the customer and business return. This paper, qualitatively, guides designers to understand how changes in a particular attribute can influence other attributes. Over 30 hours of semi-structured interviews, with experts from the UK, aerospace industry was conducted to identify attributes and their drivers. Furthermore, a case study in turbines was applied in order to assess the findings. From a broader sense, implications for PSS design from a practitioner’s perspective are presented.

IPS

2

consist of interacting product and service elements, which need to be developed simultaneously and jointly under permanent consideration of their interdependencies. The increased complexity of the integrated, multi-domain development requires methods and tools to support the IPS

2

developer. The presented methodical approach is based on modelling and visualizing the interdependencies between the IPS

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elements. The PSS-CAD support system provides the authoring tool for creating, visualizing and maintaining this model during the integrated IPS

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drafting stage. As a software module within the IPS

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assistance system, the PSS-CAD support system completes the IT support tool-chain for the entire IPS

2

planning and development process.

Companies developing physical products are challenged to find solutions through services as a means of innovative value-added solutions to support customer’s needs. Designing integrated product and service systems to increase customer satisfaction requires the ability of companies to use knowledge in a more efficient way. However, the knowledge representation of product-service systems (PSS) remains an open issue. Current PSS representations are limited to one aspect be it user requirements, value or function. This paper proposes the use of ontologies as means for representing product-service systems. Ontologies are used in a case-based reasoning (CBR)-based support system. The CBR system enables the user to find PSS examples that could be used as a reference for new problems. This paper discusses the advantages of the proposed approach in conjunction with a case study.

During the early phases of an innovation process, it is essential for involved persons to have a common understanding of future PSS characteristics and potential properties. This paper deals with the representation of these dependencies and how they can be displayed for a proper use by planers. Basis for the work is a matrix-based description of an existing PSS-portfolio. Further, it is enhanced with several planning-relevant attributes like module relation or novelty degree of a technology. ElViz, a java-based tool was developed which fulfils the planning requirements and gives a manageable interface to enter planning-relevant information units and interconnections between them. It automatically displays chosen interconnections to provide a graphical representation between information units. The result is a potent tool for planers to deal with the concretization of a new PSS or the changing of an existing one.

During the conceptual design process the domain structure of an IPS

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has to be generated in a partitioning process by allocating the different domains to the IPS

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functions that have to be fulfilled within an IPS

2

. The domain allocation of IPS

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is partly mentioned in literature, however, a holistic approach or a guideline for the deliberate and explicit choice of product and service elements is not yet suggested. The aim of this paper is to present a model-based method for IPS

2

domain allocation in order to support a designer concerning a systematic and creative generation and variation of IPS

2

concepts.

Product-service systems (PSS), or value propositions, are foreseen to bring about challenges in product development. Traditionally, engineers normally manage tangible elements in relation to products, and are lacking approaches to deal with the intangibles incorporated in PSS development. The purpose of the paper is to elaborate on and propose a framework for value assessment and a simulation approach. Conceptual examples are used to discuss the proposed framework, and a contribution of the paper is that it exemplifies the reasons why intangible value have to be addressed more directly in industry in general and in PSS in particular.

This paper gives new insight into how PSS providers perceive and react to different types of uncertainties regarding PSS in their planning, design, and development through an interview study. The companies were found to be most concerned about Market Uncertainty, Supplier Coordination Uncertainty, and Uncertainty of Innovative Services, in this order. The uncertainty types perceived as opportunity by a greater number of firms were Market Uncertainty, Environment Uncertainty, and Uncertainty of Product Functioning. Furthermore, the companies that offer Use-Oriented Service or Result-Oriented Service seemed to perceive lower risks than those offering only Product-Oriented Service.

Flexibility is one of the most important strategic success factors in today’s business relationships. While the importance of flexibility is beyond debate, its management is relatively unexplored. Managing flexibility means that flexibility potentials have to be developed and retained economically. The aim of this article is to establish the basis for managing flexibility especially in case of Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS

2

). Starting from IPS

2

characteristics, this paper presents how the strategic management can plan and steer flexibility by integrating both the supplier and the customer of IPS

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in the management.

Industrial Product-Service-Systems (IPS

2

) mirror the sectoral transition in-between industry and services. Although in the light of strategic management IPS

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can be characterized as opportunities with a high potential for future prosperity, the phenomenon has received little attention from management research, yet. Especially with regard to the coordination requirements of new business models the introduction of new approaches to coordination constitutes a necessity for further research. Based on theoretical considerations in the Dynamic Capability Approach we start with an exploration of the field with a focus on critical processes, structures, and individuals as constituting antecedents to the success of the complex IPS

2

work system. Our case studies in seven mechanical engineering companies (company sites in Germany) reveal a theoretical framework for future validation that outlines the importance of reflexive coordination and IT-based knowledge integration processes, decentralized parallel (decision making) structures and individual competencies of project team members and ambidextrous leadership behaviors of their team leaders.

The move towards offering Product-Service Systems (PSS) requires the involvement of stakeholders from different companies, possessing knowledge about the different product lifecycle phases. This setting poses unique challenges for traditional product manufacturers, which need to rearrange transaction-based relationships into long-term relationships of co-development. Knowledge sharing across organizational boundaries is, therefore, considered as a key enabler for the development of profitable PSS. The paper is based on a social network tie perspective, and its purpose is to describe and exemplify knowledge-sharing network for PSS development—in order to describe the impact of the shift toward PSS development on companies’ relationships and responsibilities. Based on the findings from two research projects involving various partners from the aerospace industry, the paper concludes that the development of profitable PSS relies on the development of strong and weak ties across the supply network. Finally, a five stages model of the evolution of tie strength is proposed for classifying relationships within the PSS knowledge-sharing network.

The need for a service-oriented approach to industrial production is increasingly becoming a commonly accepted requirement for fulfilling the needs of customers and for generating added-value. Along these lines, contracting for availability, as applied in the United Kingdom, sets the context for this paper that presents a case study of service cost uncertainties. A framework is proposed to capture uncertainties of service costs. The findings of the study have been validated with industrial experts and are intended to support service designers in decision-making during bidding stages for service projects.

This paper discusses a technological development strategy of service engineering to support customers, employees and business managers in retail and restaurant services. A customer contact support technology named “POSEIDON” helps to know customer needs and satisfaction and also provides recommendation for each customer through a natural interaction. This also introduces a business support methods using customer behavior modeling technology. With those technologies, we target at mutual growth of employee’s skill and business computational model that could be used for the enhancement of customer satisfactions.

In order to remain competitive, capital goods manufacturers are forced to establish productive realization processes of technical Product-Service Systems (PSS). While the concept of productivity in manufacturing products is well establish, there are some shortcomings when transferring this concept to services. This paper provides a new, process-oriented understanding of service productivity that builds the basis for analyzing and assessing cause-effect-relationships between quantitative and qualitative aspects of service realization. Based on this, a framework for assessing service productivity and quality is presented and illustrated by a use case from the wine-growing industry.

Information sharing as typified by the shift handing-over process among employees is important to provide high quality nursing-care service. Service productivity and quality is likely to be improved by supporting information sharing. In this paper, we aimed to propose functional requirements as the first step of developing a handing-over support system. The authors collaborated with the health institute on long-term care for the aged “Wakouen”, to display nursing-care service process and conduct an actual condition survey of the handing-over. Finally, we proposed five requirements for the handing-over support system.

Within PSS context, after-sale services, including technical services play a key role. To improve the performances of these services, due to the increasing installed base and product complexity, companies must provide dispersed field workers with information needed to perform tasks. However, to transfer information, the display mode that can affect tasks efficiency, up to now is scarcely considered. In this context, Augmented Reality technology, in its several aspects, gives its contribution, facilitating information display and collaboration with remote users. This paper proposes a selection model with the aim of guiding managers in selecting the AR solution most suitable for their field service context.

This paper proposes a computer aided design method of package tours that meets various tourists’ favors while controlling cost. Tour service is modeled as network that comprises activity, place, capability and enabler. Design process of a tour lineup takes three steps. First, the network is redesigned by morphing an improvement. All possible sequences of activities (tour candidates) are extracted from the network. The extracted tour candidates are combined as a lineup. After feasibility of the lineup is checked, it is evaluated by the viewpoints of tourists and providers. The proposed method is validated through the case of Tokyo day tours.

The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the role of information systems for facilitating the engineering of service requirements. It adopts a case study design consisting of 22 semi-structured interviews with 12 managers and engineers from a large semiconductor-based firm to capture ‘what’ and ‘how’ human- and computer-based information systems are managed using control policies and information managers during the engineering of service requirements. The lessons learnt based on a thematic analysis of the findings from the interviews are then discussed in terms of improving uncertainty management during the design and delivery of services.

Flight rescheduling is a very hard work, because a large number of elements are directly/indirectly involved in each other. In order to solve this problem, our research proposes a support system which represents flight service as a service model consists of three sub service models: transportation service, operation service, and maintenance service. Based on the modeling of flight service, our research also proposes a method for flight rescheduling focused on flight relationship. Finally, the proposed flight rescheduling support system is applied to an actual data of flight service as a case study.

Wakoen Care Facility workers share one notebook for communication. Most Saga University Hospital point-of-care system PDAs are not used by nurses, who must record and share information, mainly because the system interface impedes their workflow. User-oriented system development is important for nurses and care workers. First, a development style is chosen for a new point-of-care system to gather and present common workplace knowledge. The system, which shows contexts such as 5W1H for search terms, lets nurses view prior inputs and co-worker workflows. Consequently, workplace knowledge sharing realizes efficient input support. The system development style and prototypes are described herein.

This paper presents the development and changes in the photocopier product service system (PSS). The photocopier PSS is the repsentative example of PSSs. The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been oriented to selling the function rather than the product from the inception of the industry. This paper highlights three issues. First, the OEMs’ efforts to increase the productivity of the service are presented. The companies have been making continuous efforts to increase the efficiency and quality of the PSS. Second, recent trends of the business model in the industry is described. A new business model called managed print services (MPS) has emerged. Its influence on the industry is argued. Third, recent situations of the product remanufacturing of photocopiers are described. Based on these observations, implications of the case on PSS in general are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to study how value is co-created in b2b networks and how the compatibility of business models affects value creation. A contribution is made to value creation literature by addressing the subject of perceived value and the compatibility of business models as the basic antecedents of value co-creation in b2b networks. The research methodology employed in this paper is a qualitative case study. The research data is gathered mainly by in-depth interviews. Additional data was gathered by organizing company workshops. Case A represents construction services, case B the high-tech industrial solution, and case C represents delivery of the integrated solution. The empirical analyses showed that operation models of networks can and should be different, but the compatibility of value accrued to the actors and business models are basic antecedents of value co-creation within b2b networks. We propose that understanding the business models and the realization of value of the partners supports value co-creation.

In contrast to current product-oriented solutions, Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

2

) involve the integrated development of products and services, thereby guaranteeing high customer value. As a consequence, an IPS

2

business model characteristically delivers value in a long-term customer relationship. To date, comprehensive research on the design and engineering of dynamic IPS

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business models has not been conducted, which has resulted in a lack of modeling and simulation methods that depict their dynamic behavior over the entire IPS

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life cycle. In order to fill this research gap, this paper focuses on an integrated business model design and engineering approach with System Dynamics.

There is an ongoing trend to expand traditional offerings of selling goods towards providing value through services to customers. In academia the term Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) describes this phenomenon. Although many articles have been published on IPS2 a systematic review is lacking. This paper presents a systematic review of the IPS2 domain. Five themes characterizing IPS2 are revealed: delivery, processes, value creation networks, knowledge management, and business models. IPS2 is concluded to be both a young and distributed field of research, with a scope that needs to expand in terms of the themes covered and number of empirical studies.

Delivering Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS

2

) is a strategic priority for many companies, since IPS

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represent an opportunity to differentiate from competitors and to build long-term customer relationships. However, these relationships have to be characterized, e.g. in terms of delivering value, generating revenues, and sharing risks, which can be done through a business model. Nevertheless, the existing research on business models lacks structure especially with regard to IPS

2

. To provide a first step into closing this research gap, this study aims at delivering an IPS

2

-specific business model ontology. Based on this, a case study of a solution provider is conducted.

Due to competitors in low-wage countries, many manufacturing companies must pursue new business solutions to convince industrial customers about their products. Offering solutions that meet customer needs by products with integrated services, so called Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

2

), is one option to ensure competitiveness. One challenge is how to compensate for energy costs in an IPS

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by energy efficient manufacturing. In this paper, a scenario is considered where a consortium of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Energy Planning Consultants act as an IPS

2

provider to acquire new customers by energy efficient manufacturing operations.

A Company thinking about providing IPS

2

has to cope with substantial challenges in the front end of the development phase. Here it is essential to identify the appropriate business model as a key source to satisfy customer needs. Existing approaches are able to characterize and classify existing IPS

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-business models by presenting a systematic framework. However research focusing the role and method of the literal process of generation lacks content. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for generating sustainable, innovative IPS

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-business models by exemplifying the task for the industrial use case of galvanizing high quality sanitary fittings.

Designing cooperative business processes in Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

2

) is a challenging effort. Previous research has developed few comprehensive methods and tools for designing integrated business processes and information systems that foster a seamless cooperation in a network. In this study, a workshop method is developed to identify information that needs to be transferred in an IPS

2

in order to jointly engineer, sell, and fulfill complex value propositions. In order to design and implement integrated business processes and information systems on a detailed level, the workshop results can be used subsequently to speed up and inform more comprehensive design endeavors.

Here we identify the proposal and issue of productivity improvement model for the B2B type manufacturer’s service within the framework of social and economic system. Based on study cases of service marketing and service engineering as the interdisciplinary research area of social science, the productivity improvement model for the manufacturer’s service is presented and requirements for the continuous development of this model is discussed. In this productivity improvement model, we present the three-dimensional innovation based on the trade-off relationship between efficiency and effect in the service productivity improvement.

Traditional manufacturing companies are trying to differentiate from increasing competition by offering customized Product-Service Systems (PSS). While academic literature already focused on organizational changes required on side of the supplier providing PSS, changes induced by the implementation of a PSS within the customer’s organization are neglected so far. However, managing these changes on the customer’s side is a challenge in selling PSS. Thus, the authors (I) describe the customer’s change process induced by different PSS business models, (II) adjust change management strategies to fit PSS and combine these with the PSS life cycle and (III) bring up further research questions.

Collaborative PSS development and operation, where multiple stakeholders are involved, is an emerging research area. This articles looks at the intra and inter-organisational company considerations in the industry case of company collaboration in the maritime branch. Initial steps are taken towards a framework that aligns service strategies and their unique value proposition with a set of business nets that seeks lights on the value-logic and management mechanisms to design and control each network.

Successful implementation of product-service system (PSS) as business strategy has proven lucrative through many industry examples. However, companies should tread carefully before committing to a costly restructuring towards PSS business creation. This paper claims that before a company moves from being a product to a product-service provider they should carefully consider internal and external aspects with regard to their organization, their market and their network. The paper proposes a three step process labelled the Evaluate-Decide-Execute approach; an approach that should enable the company to first evaluate the foundation for PSS, and then decide whether to commit to this course, and finally execute the transformation.

Customer satisfaction levels have been used by industry to provide valuable insight into the evaluation of products and service quality. However, the levels do not necessarily provide a full picture needed for a full evaluation. This paper analyses published academic research work and industry’s views, and presents a framework that uses customer satisfaction as the main contributor towards the state of “total contentment”, to measure performance and develop product service systems (PSS) within industry. Additional parameters such as customer loyalty and retention are included in the proposed framework, providing a full overview in how customers’ “total contentment” can be determined.

Current planning processes in construction industry oftentimes cannot cope with the complexity of large factory planning projects. As complexity increases in future due to growing team sizes and shorter project durations, there is a strong need for a service system that helps improving planning processes. In this paper, a design method for complex service systems is presented and applied to the case of planning process management. The developed service is applied in an industrial use-case.

Existing methods and tools developed in the frame of the IPS

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research are mainly concerned with general IPS

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and service design and are still very conceptional. Deployment approaches for those methods and tools for the use in practice are hard to find. This paper proposes a deployment approach for process-based IPS

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development projects in industry, which has been designed in the scope of a German project on IPS

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Engineering. This deployment approach proposes a systematic approach for manufacturers to deploy dedicated development methodology and process-based project management methods for IPS

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development.

Customer participation in the design and formulation of services is promoted as a way to add value. Customers, who are non-expert designers; decide how to design and formulate service on their expectations. This study aims to clarify customers’ expectations in order to encourage participatory design. The way customers form their expectations is modeled based on construal level theory. As an example, this study examines the relationship between psychological distance and customer expectations on the tourism service in Tokyo. The tourists’ expectations are analyzed using the questionnaire data. The analysis shows that what tourists regard as important depends on their experiences.

The importance of integrated product service provision has been well-recognized in both academia and industry alike. However, substantial deficiencies still can be found in methods for eliciting and seamlessly integrating customer requirements into the development processes of a company. The approach ‘Design for Customer’ postulated within this paper adopts these deficiencies and highlights a technique for continuous customer integration during the utilization phases of an industrial product-service system enabling a constant portfolio alignment according to customer requirements. The approach is particularly dedicated to the consumer industry. In particular, a Fuzzy-Apriori-algorithm as part of the Design for Customer approach, able to generate association rules between customer requirements and IPS2 components, is presented in more detail.

Telecommunication companies are in a state of transition, going from product focus towards more service focused business approaches, and the development has been ongoing for many years. This paper takes a Product Service Systems perspective on the product-to-service transition process in the telecommunication industry by presenting the case of Ericsson. It is argued that a Product Service System approach would support the co-existence of both products and services, their mutual dependency on each other and thus gain competitive advantages for the company. Further, an Organisational Maturity and Offering Matrix is presented and the Ericsson case is mapped to it.

To improve service quality by the scientific method, a service index must be determined and measured. However, large variation in the indices makes doing so difficult. This paper focuses on the case of souvenir shopping at a tourist site and investigates the correlation between purchase rate and the following three behavior indices: number of items given attention, time in shop, and conversation time with shop staff. The experiment shows that the numbers of items given attention and time in shop are suitable for use in a service index.

This paper proposes a service demand forecasting method that uses a customer classification model to consider various customer behaviors. A decision support system is introduced that helps managers and employees in retail or restaurant stores. In addition, this paper proposes a process of development and launch, based on observation and implementation in real situations.

When children grow up, baby strollers become idle. It’s not only a waste of resources but also a burden for parents. Due to the growing energy depletion and the deteriorating environment, the consumer has strengthened the sustainable consumption concept. Therefore, this study attempts to improve the effectiveness of usage on baby strollers with product service system perspective. The study hopes to get closer to the needs of infants, young children and parents. Meantime, the study also checks the products with green design orientation. Eventually, the study develops the infant strollers with product system service standpoint and meets the green standards.

Nowadays, manufacturing enterprises shift to bundle their products with services to satisfy customer needs. This process is called “Servitization”. The European project “Manufacturing SErvice Ecosystem” (MSEE) is developing models supporting Servitization, based on Future Internet architectures and platforms. To allow efficient collaboration for the provision of Product-Service Systems (PSS), the business as well as the ICT environment needs to be adapted. However, stakeholders are typically not aware of all requirements for the transition in the areas of physical resources, organization and IT. This paper presents one of the results of MSEE project: the development of an adequate Requirements Engineering approach.

Recently, a new academic field, “service engineering,” has been very actively investigated. However, there are few effective methods and tools to simulate and evaluate services designed based on the concept of service engineering. The authors previously proposed a service flow simulation method that uses scene transition nets (STNs), which is a graphic modeling and simulation method for discrete-continuous hybrid systems. However, this method does not consider the manner in which complex service flows are modeled and simulated, including multiple layered, parallel, and interrupted structures, and it is difficult to construct STN models of such complex systems using the existing STN concepts. In this paper, the authors propose a new STN modeling method that uses “multi-aspect STN modeling” concepts to provide easy methods for modeling such complex services. The experimental results for the modeling and simulation of an elevator monitoring.. service demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

PSS are often used by multiple users as well as under varying conditions. These users do not know the PSS well and therefore are less likely to recognize problems or handle situations that could damage the product. Therefore design of robust product components for PSS is important.

Based on disturbances analysed by process modelling, robust principle solutions can be designed using disturbance portfolios. The introduced method uses them to offer the designer sub solutions and disturbances in a coherent table. The sub solutions are represented by a pictogram to support intuitive design as well as numeric information about the robustness.

In manufacturing industries, the number of membership-type services such as car-sharing services has increased these days. Because services generally have specific characteristics such as heterogeneity and different values of services for service providers and consumers, it is important to elucidate the usefulness of such services considering actual human behaviours. This paper constructs three basic models in manufacturing including membership-type services. Analyses of them are conducted using game theory, experiments with human subjects, and multi-agent simulation. Results show that, in terms of some parameters related to production cost, manufacturers should shift to service provision in cases where costs are high. Conventional production and sales as a physical product are profitable in cases where costs are low. Furthermore, membership-type services can yield the greatest manufacturers’ profit in three basic models even if incorporating actual human behaviours.

Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS

2

) are characterized by a high integration of product and service shares. Services in the field of machine tools, particularly maintenance and repair, are highly knowledge intensive processes and their outcome can vary highly. An agent-based control system is presented that allows for the control of IPS

2

including product as well as service shares. The use of ontologies, which are formalized descriptions of concepts and their relations among one another, will be introduced as a means for providing a model of the machine tool and its environment that can be used to influence the agents’ behavior in a way that corresponds to the state and the goals of the IPS

2

.

In accordance with the maturation of industry, services for customers take a more important role to fulfill their requirements. To develop successful Product-Service Systems (PSSs) and services, the cooperation with different organizations and individuals is effective since innovative PSSs and services often require various capabilities and resources which are difficult to obtain by one company. To realize effective cooperation with adequate partners, the design methods to determine cooperative relations and service processes are necessary. However, there are few existing methods to tackle this issue. In this article, the authors introduce the cooperative process modeling method to describe both detailed interactions among stakeholders and overall service processes, and propose several cooperation patterns for the efficient and effective design of cooperation. Then, the authors suggest a guideline to apply cooperation patterns in the design of cooperative service processes by means of the proposed process modeling method and cooperation patterns.

The transition from product development towards development of product-service systems (PSS) challenges manufacturing industry today. This paper is based on a case study of a company in the aerospace industry that turned their internal product knowledge into an external service offer, which challenged established structures of the product development process. The process and challenges of the capitalization of internal knowledge were documented as well as the capabilities needed. This case emphasizes the importance of collaboration between different areas of expertise and it also shows that PSS development enhances the need for engineers who are skilled in more than one area.

Companies and governments use scenarios as a means to express their long-term development plans from diverse, business, social, environmental, and technological aspects with various resolutions. In designing such scenarios, simulation methods are crucial in verifying scenario conclusions derived from facts and activities. This paper proposes a simulation method used in the scenario design process, which can deal with a scenario model with various resolutions by combining simulation methods studied on system dynamics and agent-based modeling. The method quantifies the side effects of target conclusions in backcasting design of a scenario towards sustainable society based on the IPAT formalization.

Current business models base activities on classical product lifecycles (manufacturing, distribution, sale, use and end-of-life). The essential implications on use phase activities are therefore dictated by products with single use phases. However, environmental concerns seek to readapt and reduce the effect of industrial activities. For this reason, PSS offers with multiple-usage strategies have been proposed. Many authors stress on environmental benefits and sustainable potentials of PSS approaches, often taking for granted advantages such as the intensification of use and the extension of the product life cycle through better maintenance. This paper contributes to determine how far this may be true.

Due to growing concern on sustainability, manufacturing companies need to plan long-term strategies to envision their pathways toward sustainable business. Designing scenarios is a core approach to examining business strategies by drawing possible future situations. This paper aims to formalize processes to design scenarios for planning business strategies for sustainability. These processes involve the reuse of existing sustainability scenarios to help companies’ strategists describe business environments that might occur. The results of describing a scenario regarding solar panel business demonstrate that the method makes it easier to describe detailed business environments and business strategies based on an existing energy scenario.

Product piracy has tremendous consequences for manufacturers of capital goods. Spare parts are an especially frequent target for counterfeit due to their technical simplicity and high market volume. As a result, counterfeit spare parts with inferior quality engender to economic, environmental, and social risks and hinder the sustainable usage of the entire technical Product-Service System. Existing strategies usually focus on the potential counterfeiters and attempt to thwart their capabilities. However, this ignore that the main causes for product piracy are internally induced and self-inflicted. The presented approach identifies and reduces these risks for spare parts over the product life cycle.

Since the 1980’s, additive manufacturing (AM) has gradually advanced from rapid prototyping applications towards fabricating end consumer products. Many small companies may prefer accessing AM technologies through service providers offering production services as result-oriented Industrial Product-Service System (IPSS) rather than investing in their own production line. This study investigated potential benefits of IPSS using system dynamics modeling to study resource demands between two situations: one where an IPSS approach is used and one that is the traditional ownership of production equipment. This study concluded that AM service providers with demand-varying customers could increase service performance and maximize use of production equipment.

The objective of this study is to propose a reuse/sharing business design method especially focusing on the two different factors: the benefit obtained by component (or product) reuse (or sharing) and its resulting cost. To this end, we first propose a calculation model of the benefit of and costs for the component reuse/sharing considering the necessary transportation and component installation/uninstallation tasks. Then, we propose a reuse/sharing design method that screens out a profitable set of components in addition with the groups of the users among which each corresponding component is to be reused or shared. A simplified calculation example is also provided to illustrate the method.

This paper proposes a low-carbon emission concept PSS innovative design method and an assessment to assist the designer developing clear concepts of low-carbon effective PSS. The proposed low-carbon PSS design process consists of four tools (1) system layer analysis map, (2) PSS characteristic strategies, (3) Su-field analysis method, and (4) case-based corresponding method. A PSS low-carbon effect comparison value (PLCA) and low-carbon effect indicators were proposed in this paper to analyze the difference of the low-carbon states between the similar PSS strategies. A design case is demonstrated to illustrate the capabilities of proposed method.

The appropriate combinations of life cycle options (LCOPs) and delivery modes should be selected in the design of an environmentally benign product-service system (PSS). The LCOPs reduce the environmental load during product life cycles, and the delivery modes provide products and services to customers, affecting the effectiveness of the LCOPs. This paper analyzes the relationships between the two and proposes a procedure for selecting their proper combinations. A life cycle simulation is used to evaluate the selected combinations. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by applying it to a laundry business.

Automotive road traffic makes up a substantial part of environmental impacts. Efficient road traffic is only possible with an integrated approach decreasing the number of used cars for the distance capacity, while at the same time the car occupancy rate increases significantly. Car sharing already demonstrates a reduction of environmental impacts by increasing vehicle use. A disadvantage remains in the still low occupancy rate of the vehicles. Ride sharing can countervail this effect. A PSS combining vehicles with both services car and ride sharing is developed using a simulation model. Possibilities and limitations of the approach and transport optimization are demonstrated.

To realize the effective part reuse required for a sustainable society, part agent that is a combination of network agent and RFID is being developed to manage an individual part throughout its life cycle. It forms a product-service system that gives users advices on maintenance. Methods using part agents are developed to promote the reuse of parts: they are, use of user’s preferences that are acquired via questionnaire, distribution of reused parts through a market system and support of decision making on use of reused parts with deterioration. Remaining issues to realize reuse of parts are also discussed.

A literature review of PSS and maturity models is employed to search out key factors as a basis for maturity modelling. The architecture of Hammer’s Process-Enterprise Maturity Model is adopted. The precursor PSS Maturity Model is partitioned into two domains. The process domain covers resources common to most production or service enterprises – people, process and information dimensions. The enterprise domain covers specific properties of production-service enterprises – customer-facing (need, collaboration, customer-centricity, ownership), life-cycle (management, resources, environment), and offer (servitization / productization) dimensions. 27 process and 42 enterprise factors are detailed, with the range of capability or maturity they could achieve.

The development of a new service proposed by Service Engineering relies largely on inspiration and past experiences of service designers. This article illustrates the viability of applying TRIZ, the theory of inventive problem solving, to service engineering proposing a new approach to traditional service design. By integrating TRIZ system modelling and problem-solving tools, the authors propose a new TRIZ-based approach to cover this weakness in service design. This integration has been evaluated by a theoretical study of the key concepts of both methods, and, practically, through the application to a real case study. The proposed integrated process shows the relevance of TRIZ for service design and its possible use as a support tool in the traditional service design.

The servitization process and in particular Product-Service Systems offering, and the growing attention to issues of economic, environmental and social sustainability, lead both companies and customers to evaluate the solution offered along the life-cycle taking into account all the economic and/or environmental costs. To this aim, methodologies such as Life-Cycle Costing, Life-Cycle Assessment, and Total Cost of Ownership are extremely helpful. This paper, through multiple case studies, aims to present different ways of collaborations among companies, universities, research centers, certification bodies etc., through which tools, methods, human resources, data, information, can be exploited to develop TCO models for different purposes.

Although the merits of Industrial product-service systems (IPS

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) have been widely reported in the literature, the methodologies currently used to design IPS

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are not yet mature in either academia or industry. The objective of this paper is to determine the direction of design processes as proposed by academic research compared with those in industry. A comparison of industrial design methodological practices with the literature has revealed that the main commonalities are within the development of the value proposition, capability assessment, and the stakeholders’ engagement, whereas differences are observed in through life performance optimization, repeatability, financial modelling, intangible benefits and end-state visualization.

In the context of IPS

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the responsibility for managing customized technical systems is shared between customer and supplier. Human operators require more knowledge to manage and maintain each additional system without an increased time for training with them. At the same time operator errors pose a considerable risk to the overall system robustness. We describe a prototype of a cognitive framework which optimizes the robustness of manual tasks by recognizing operator mistakes. The prototype is evaluated using an experiment. The prototype automatically analyses sensory data from the technical system to identify operator errors during task execution.

Depending on the contracted business model of an Industrial Product-Service System (IPS

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), different processes have to be carried out during the operation phase. The required resources to carry out these processes have to be planned with strategic and operational methods. However, these methods have not yet been utilized in industrial applications. In this paper, the requirements for the transfer and application of the IPS

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resource planning are discussed based on a case study of a global German machine tool manufacturer. The results of the review give valuable indications for the integration of the planning tool for existing machine tool manufacturers.

The transition of manufacturing companies towards Product Service System (PSS) offers was mainly treated in the literature at the strategic level. This paper aims at studying the impact of the transition in operation management, with a specific focus on capacity management. With this purpose we present below a PSS Production System, used as a decision support tool. We first explain conceptually the modelling approach used, and the general concepts. Then we explain how discrete events simulation was applied to study different scenarios and strategy of capacity management on a case study. First results of this feasibility study are discussed.

The integration of product and service shares to IPS

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shall increase the customer value and considers manifold customer requirements. For effective planning, development and delivery of service shares the assessment of service productivity is purposeful. As an example, the introduction of a tool management system as a service share will be considered. The integration of the tool management system into an IPS

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influences the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). The impact of the service share on the OEE is quantifiable and is comparable to the costs of this service share. Thus, the productivity of the regarded service share can be determined.

ICT and PSS potentially reduce the excessive use of material resources and improve the eco-efficiency of industrial products and services. The progress of ICT systems are a motor for sustainable PSS. There is a close dependency of PSS on ICT. ICT are often intrinsically PSS but can also be viewed as a facilitator. The frontier between them is not always easy to discern. This paper proposes a classification of different combinations of ICT and PSS to facilitate comprehension of sustainable operation of PSS and the rapports between the different PSS and ICT actors. Four industrial cases illustrate their consequences.

This paper proposes a chain of service models assembled by design, implementation and operation data. To obtain both economy of scale and economy of scope, appropriate chains are required for producing cloud-compliant services. By specifying a target domain and distributing models’ attributes into commonality or variability, a chain, which consists of necessary and sufficient models with utmost customizable interfaces, can be determined decisively. A field trial elicits representative chains of models, and shows that the chains, i.e. lifecycle patterns, can be used as templates to develop new services on mass customization basis and tailored to meet clients’ varied demands.

Industrial product-service systems (IPS

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) are based on an integrated planning and development of products and services to offer solutions for customers. Integrated products and services underlie complex influences to each other and require software support to guarantee availability of an IPS

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. Therefore, supporting warnings and instructions for human operators are essential. In this paper a multimodal approach of user support is presented which uses available digital information in IPS

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to offer individual support to human operators for specific tasks in different environments. Applicability is demonstrated in a scenario on micro milling machine manufacturing.

Information and communication technology (ICT) reveals high potential to make maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services more efficient. This paper presents a concept for an ICT system that will support field service technicians as well as administrational staff. The system will provide software functions for service preparation and to guide service technicians through process operations, providing machine documentation, machine and service history, and data from the machine control. A multi-agent based communication concept will enable interaction between administrational staff, service technician, and machine tool by data exchange, generation of situational instructions, and automated documentation of service activities.

Total Offers, Functional Products, and Integrated Product Service Engineering reflect a shift toward service offers from manufacturing industry captured within the term Product-Service Systems (PSS). Manufacturing companies have traditionally focused design and development activities on realizing technical and engineered aspects of physical artifacts, while PSS include deeper understanding of customers’ expectation, needs and perceived value, hence calling for modelling of additional aspects. The change in early design processes and the effects on virtual modelling of product properties are discussed in this paper through aerospace industry examples to clarify ‘parameters of change’, giving suggestions for a simulation driven design (SDD) approach.

Value should run through the whole PSS design process from customer analysis to concept evaluation. A new customer value model is proposed based on the famous customer value hierarchy model, which aims to analyze customer and acquire value elements to be translated into PSS design requirements. A PSS concept evaluation approach based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is given out in this paper to measure the value of each PSS concept candidates. A case study of pipe laying PSS is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of PSS design framework driven by customer value.

To keep up in times of global competition, an integrated user support is crucial for the safety and competitiveness in the field of Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

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). This paper contains a review of the project work on warnings and instructions in IPS

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using the application scenario ‘spindle change’ on a micro milling machine. Specifically, the invented warning prototype and the animated instruction video as well as the associated experiments and their results will be presented. The paper concludes with the recent project work on the integration of both types of user support and the provision of future prospects.

This paper is about how product-service systems (PSS) can help in preventing product piracy. Imitations of original products cause a wide range of threats for the industry such as losses in sales and profits. To meet these threats, protection measures have to be established. These measures complicate the development, manufacturing and selling of imitations. One promising measure is raising the product complexity. In this paper, it is investigated how PSS support companies in protecting their products from being imitated. PSS are in many cases a promising option for impeding the business model of imitators. In this paper, both the protection by PSS and the imitability of PSS is evaluated.

Although several membership services, such as frequent flyer programs and reward programs, have been used widely to increase customer loyalty, no perfect theoretical mechanism exists for such services. Particularly, it is necessary to analyze cases of mutual competition among providers. In this study, the mechanism is analyzed with two methods in several cases. One such method is theoretical analysis based on game theory. The other is experimental analysis with human subjects, which is based on economic experimentation. The difference of these methods is the rationality of agents: all agents are completely rational in theoretical analysis, but experimental analysis yields deep insight into human behaviour that is not always perfectly rational. This study revealed that outcomes of these analyses with two methods are not corresponding.

The aspect of monitoring key performance and maintenance data in technological products becomes increasingly relevant as the necessary sensor and IT technology develops rapidly. Nevertheless, there are conditions under which the integration of a sensor system and the interpretation of the data can be counterproductive and in an extreme case lead to a dilution of the relationship between a supplier and its customer.

Within the paper the consequences of offering a Condition Monitoring System in the case of Industrial Product Service Systems are analysed, resulting from an extensive literature review and first in-depth interviews with managers from the manufacturing sector.

This paper proposes a new approach to evaluate potential IPS

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using the Service Self Checklist (SSC). The SSC enables an effective and reasonable evaluation of services in multiple aspects. To confirm the applicability of the SSC for a B2B case and also to identify the requirements of the B2B area in general, a workshop has been carried out, where the SSC was applied to an IPS

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showcase. Based on the results of the workshop, the extended SSC has been developed. The effectiveness of the extended SSC is presented with the same IPS

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showcase.

This investigation examines the critical factors for the implementation of service suppliers operating in a Product Service System (PSS) context into a manufacturer of technological products. A case study involving 4 suppliers that provide services at the same company was developed. The suppliers provide management and services for production process equipment, measurement system, sourcing of pieces and parts, export sales of the finished product and spare parts, and receiving logistics. The major contributing factors towards the success of the PSS implementation into the B2B environment are management of the relationship by the supplier, management of performance by the buyer and the supplier, co-creation of value.

European engineering companies are facing growing fierce competition on B-to-B markets mainly caused by market entrances from emerging BRIC-countries. Innovation becomes a key factor to stay ahead. Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS

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) that try to achieve higher benefits for both, IPS

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-provider and -customer, are framework of this research. First of all, the pricing process of IPS

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is discussed. This is followed by an analysis of investment decisions in the context of IPS

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. The article continues with revenue-sharing as feasible way to allocate future revenues and finally analyzes the impact of a broader range of IPS

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in execution on the IPS

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-provider’s investment behavior.

A sense of “added value” in products is becoming increasingly important to consumers of all kinds because of the current economic climate and growing environmental consciousness. To address this situation, a novel engineering methodology called Service Engineering has been proposed. While Service Engineering focuses on increasing customer satisfaction, general service designers need to take costs into account in order to be successful in business. This paper proposes a method that enables designers to analyse service cost in the process of design. The proposed method is verified through its application on a practical case.

This paper presents a methodology to assess the economic potential of a Product-Service System for manufacturers of investment goods. The methodology is based on an analysis of the cost and value improvement potential per functional result, over the lifecycle of the investment good. In the theoretical description of the methodology, the importance of choosing a functional result as reference basis for the quantification is highlighted. The value-price-cost framework is proposed as the theoretical foundation of the economic model employed. The methodology is applied on a case study performed for a manufacturer and service provider of elevators, mainly focusing on the cost improvement potential that can be realized per functional result of an elevator.

Strategically planned reference marketing is becoming increasingly important in business markets. Especially for industrial product service systems reference marketing unlocks great potential to generate sales. Since customers are challenged in evaluating the quality of highly customized IPS

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in advance, they perceive high risk in buying situations. The utilization of references affords an opportunity to reduce this risk, since prospective customers feel more confident in decision making by relying on other customers’ recommendations. The paper at hand provides an overview on different reference marketing practices and draws propositions about specific requirements that reference marketing has to comply to successfully sell IPS

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.