Design of informatics-based services in manufacturing industries: case studies using large vehicle-related databases

Numerous companies in manufacturing industries have “servitized” their value propositions to address issues on product commoditization and sustainability. A key component of servitization is informatics, which transforms product and customer data into information for customers. In this study, informatics-based service is defined as a type of service wherein informatics is crucial to customer value creation. Despite the importance of this concept, studies on the design of informatics-based services in manufacturing industries are rare. This paper reports on two case studies on such designs. Informatics-based services have been designed for a major Korean automobile manufacturer and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (TS) based on their large vehicle-related databases. The first case study with the automobile manufacturer aims to design vehicle operations and health management services for passenger vehicle drivers while the second study with TS focuses on the design of driving safety enhancement services for commercial vehicle (i.e., bus, taxi, and truck) drivers. Based on the case studies, this paper discusses various aspects of informatics-based service design in manufacturing industries. This study would assist researchers and practitioners in designing new informatics-based services and contribute to promoting and inspiring research on intelligent services in manufacturing industries under the current information economy.