Business Models for Industrial Smart Services – The Example of a Digital Twin for a Product-Service-System for Potato Harvesting

Abstract

Modern agricultural machinery manufacturers develop an increasing number of smart services to combine their already excellent physical products with an ever-growing number of physical and digital services to product-service-systems. However, this causes problems for the manufacturers, as these combinations of physical goods, services and digital services are still relatively new, and suitable business models are lacking. This paper presents a morphological framework based on a literature review and expert interviews to develop business models for product service systems. Based on the morphological framework, six different types of general business models for smart services were identified and will be described. The types were validated within the German-based research project Smart-Farming-World along with experts from agriculture and farmers. This paper discusses the first results of the validation with farmers and shows the potential of a business model for a digital twin in the context of potato harvesting.