Systematic Prototyping of Product-Service Systems

Abstract

Industrial companies are permanently facing challenges regarding the development of Product-Service Systems (PSSs) due to the integration of different components into a holistic system and the need of integration of several contributors, especially customers, during the design and performance process. The use of prototypes is a promising approach to master these challenges, but if PSS prototypes are currently applied during the development process, the use often intuitively concerns the selection of the prototype as well as the timing of its use during the design process. In a systematic PSS design process, prototypes should be applied efficiently and systematically. Consequently, this paper presents at first a general literature scan regarding suitable PSS prototypes. Based on these findings, a structured state-of-the-art compilation of PSS prototypes is composed. In the following step a PSS Prototype Application Chart, which supports the efficient and targeted use of prototypes during the PSS development process, is introduced. The proposed chart integrates the PSS prototypes into the PSS design process and supports PSS developers to identify a suitable prototype for their individual PSS design project.