Abstract
Apparent from the latest pandemic, the dynamics and rate of change in society accelerate on a global scale. Ongoing mega-trends in society, such as digitalization, sustainability, and servitization, fundamentally changes the conditions for manufacturers when developing and providing new products. This study clarifies the combined impact and consequences on product development capabilities in manufacturing firms of the three mega-trends: (i) digitalization, (ii) sustainability, and (iii) servitization. The research is based on a pre-study, complemented with a semi-structured interview study at small, medium-sized, and large Swedish-based manufacturing companies, and a systematic literature review. The research makes evident that the main challenge is to empower engineers and development teams to model, present, evaluate, and develop expected and smart digitalized solutions in a time-limited environment and prioritize the most resource efficient and sustainable solution. Therefore, four complementary support resources are suggested: (i) a knowledge management platform, (ii) a data management platform, (iii) a set of criteria and metrics measuring progression, and (iv) support methods and tools to define, model, and evaluate solutions. When integrated into a digital platform, developers can simultaneously access and process the necessary information needed for sustainable, digitalized, and servitized solutions.
Highlights
The generation products will need to be designed to meet market and societal needs while utilizing technology advancements and careful use of resources
What can we learn from some different types of manufacturing companies today on how to act in a world moving fast into a transitional global change? The purpose of this study is to clarify the combined impact and consequences on product development capabilities in manufacturing firms of the three mega-trends: (i) digitalization, (ii) sustainability, and (iii) servitization, and build further on a pre-study conducted by the authors and presented in Nord Design 2018 [6]
The papers returned as an output from the literature search were published in sustainability, informatics- and management-oriented journals showing a clear lack of studies combining these three fields from engineering-oriented journals; see Table 3
Summary
The generation products will need to be designed to meet market and societal needs while utilizing technology advancements and careful use of resources. We live in a society that undergoes a sustainable transition, and a digital transition, where value is determined by what services are provided These societal transitions have a profound impact on our daily life, and on companies’ methods and processes used to develop products and systems. Artifacts produced are increasingly multi-technological, embedding service offerings Such business models rely on the artifact’s behavior; the driving forces in society call for sustainable and life-cycle integration, and there are questions for how to best develop and manage such integrated solutions. The purpose of this study is to clarify the combined impact and consequences on product development capabilities in manufacturing firms of the three mega-trends: (i) digitalization, (ii) sustainability, and (iii) servitization, and build further on a pre-study conducted by the authors and presented in Nord Design 2018 [6]. Subrahmanian et al [2] conclude that the theoretical basis in engineering design need to better include the societal and contextual factors
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
