Design of Sustainable Product-service Systems (PSS): Towards an Incremental Stepwise Assessment Method

Abstract

Companies are increasingly selling functionalities of integrated solutions of products and services instead of selling mere products. This integration of products and service solutions is known as Product Service Systems (PSS), which allows to maximize customer value and overcome increasing competition in the manufacturing sector. In this sense, PSS designers require adapted tools to support the design of sustainable solutions. This article aims to address this question by proposing a methodological framework for integrating sustainability considerations into the PSS design process. To this end a review of the peculiarities of the PSS design process was performed and which aims to explore potential ways of integrating sustainability considerations within PSS design. Several requirements have been drawn from PSS design and sustainability literature which contributed towards the formalization of a methodological framework supporting the design of sustainable PSS.