Product-service System Development Research Articles

Smart product service resources composition optimization for smart product service system in context of industrial IoT platform

Smart product service resources composition (SPS-RC) is a core issue of smart product service system (PSS) development in the emerging context of industrial internet of things (IIoT) platform, aiming to organize distributed resources for smart product service operation tasks. Existing research mainly focuses on the traditional physical PSS, while contains scant exploration of the new features emerging in context of IIoT platform, leading to an urgent updating need for SPS-RC approaches. Therefore, this study proposes a systematic framework for SPS-RC in context of IIoT platform based on cyber physical system (CPS)-based SPS blueprint, graph theory and adaptive genetic algorithm. In the proposed framework, the SPS-RC problem is formulated in accordance with the realistic smart product service operation process using the CPS-based SPS blueprint. The graph theory and depth-first search algorithm are employed to calculate the composition performance under the environment of heterogenous connection structures between SPS tasks. In addition, an optimization model considering heterogenous composition structures is established with aggregating various quality of service into one comprehensive objective and solved by an adaptive genetic algorithm. Finally, an application of this systematic framework for smart port container crane service demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Collaborative servitization in service-oriented company: The case study of telco company.

There is a growing interest in the subject of product-service system (PSS) and collaborative servitization in academia and practice. However, the focus is on exploring the growth of manufacturing companies without specifically analyzing the growth of service companies in applying PSS. There are companies, especially in the telco industry, that expand their service business to complex bundles of products and services. The paper investigates PSS in the service company and the role of collaboration in different PSS development phases: idea generation, development and go to market phase. The study adopted case-based research conducted in international Telco organization. The research demonstrates how a company creates and commercializes integrated packets of products and services, it identifies partners company works with and the benefits and challenges of their cooperation. The study addresses collaboration with customers and identifies five different customer profiles according to their openness to participate in the development of PSS. The study highlights the importance of (1) collaboration models, (2) customer involvement, and (3) strategic focus in successful application of collaborative servitization. The findings complement the literature for collaborative servitization and offer concrete input for companies in terms of how to better organize business, profit from collaboration models and gain market advantage.

Service centric design methodology for integrated robot-infrastructure systems

AbstractThe ongoing development of technology and AI facilitates the emergence of service robots in various application fields. Hence, the development of robot-infrastructure product-service systems (PSS) will become increasingly important. Based on the existing literature we propose a new methodological approach for a joint development of robot and infrastructure in the context of a socio-technical system with various stakeholders. We suggest digital models and physical prototypes to synchronize service and product development. The applicability is demonstrated for autonomous waste management robots.

Produkt-Service-Systeme im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau

Abstract Mechanical and plant engineering companies that have been focused primarily on product manufacturing in the past are recognizing the potential of a service-oriented business approach as they transform from technology providers to total solution providers. The increasing demand for holistic solutions is driving the development of product-service systems. This article closes a knowledge gap by developing a process model that enables the standardization and transferability of machine-specific product-service systems to entire machine portfolios.

Research on influencing factors of value co-creation in product service system development based on Z-DEMATEL-ISM model

Research on influencing factors of value co-creation in product service system development based on Z-DEMATEL-ISM model

A Literature Review on the Development and Creation of Digital Twins, Cyber-Physical Systems, and Product-Service Systems.

Digital Twins offer vast potential, yet many companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, hesitate to implement them. This hesitation stems partly from the challenges posed by the interdisciplinary nature of creating Digital Twins. To address these challenges, this paper explores systematic approaches for the development and creation of Digital Twins, drawing on relevant methods and approaches presented in the literature. Conducting a systematic literature review, we delve into the development of Digital Twins while also considering analogous concepts, such as Cyber-Physical Systems and Product-Service Systems. The compiled literature is categorised into three main sections: holistic approaches, architecture, and models. Each category encompasses various subcategories, all of which are detailed in this paper. Through this comprehensive review, we discuss the findings and identify research gaps, shedding light on the current state of knowledge in the field of Digital Twin development. This paper aims to provide valuable insights for practitioners and researchers alike, guiding them in navigating the complexities associated with the implementation of Digital Twins.

Sustainable value creation through customization for smart PSS models: a multi-industry case study

PurposeThis study is a reference for manufacturers who are promoting their product-service system (PSS) development. Currently, improvements in both digital customization and sustainability for various smart PSS categories have been considered rarely. This paper addresses this research gap by developing relevant models.Design/methodology/approachThe development trends of customization-oriented PSS are described in a literature review. An in-depth multiple-case study methodology is adopted, and seven manufacturing companies are sampled. The goal is to identify digital customization measures that can be employed on representative smart PSS models and to explore how these models can create sustainable value.FindingsThis study provides valuable insights by uncovering a synthesis framework for achieving customization of the product/use/result-oriented smart PSSs, and the relevant representative smart functions are summarized. This identifies how digital customization capabilities can improve sustainability, including direct economic value for customers as well as additional social benefits and environmental improvements during customization.Originality/valueCurrently, the influence of digitalization on customized offerings and the relevant impact on sustainability development have not been fully addressed to date. This study provides comprehensive information with a reference value for digital customization transformation among the three main types of smart PSS.

Exploring the Influence of Smart Product Service Systems on Enterprise Competitive Advantage from the Perspective of Value Creation

With the continuous development of information and communication technology, the development of smart product service systems (smart PSS) has become a crucial approach for enterprises to establish a competitive advantage. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the impact process of smart PSS on competitive advantage. This paper aims to explore the impact mechanism of smart PSS on competitive advantage from the perspective of value creation, using an intelligent connected vehicle supplier as a case study. The findings reveal that the composition of smart PSS, including smart technology, smart products, and smart services, influences competitive advantage through the value creation process, which involves relationship construction, relationship operation, and value release. Under the smart PSS environment, changes occur in subject relationships, resources, and key elements. In the context of smart PSS, deep cooperation between enterprises and partners focuses on ecological advantages, while general cooperation emphasizes benefit advantages. This research provides valuable insights into the impact of smart PSS composition on competitive advantage and offers reference values for organizations to establish competitive advantage objectives.

A context-aware smart product-service system development approach and application case

With advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs), one of the epitomes of ICTs are smart product-service systems (SPSSs), which have attracted much research attention in recent years. The capture and analysis of users' dynamic situations are crucial for generating personalized services. Thus the context awareness ability with better self-adaptation and capability to mine information on implicit needs appears to be promising to cope with this issue. However, approaches for the development of a model that integrates context analysis and SPSS have not been fully explored. Therefore, this study presents a new perspective with the incorporation of context awareness, and then proposes a conceptual framework for an SPSS with context awareness (CA-SPSS) and the approach to develop this system. Specifically, the approach consists of four steps. The first step is context acquisition to create a wireless sensor network with wearable devices to acquire the physiological data of users. Second, context modeling procedures are set up on a cloud platform, such as for data collection, storage, and analysis. Moreover, machine learning datasets with information obtained through multiple channels, such as user, physical, sensed and inferred contexts, are generated. Afterwards, neural network models are used for context reasoning to determine the modalities for the users. To produce the appropriate service contents for each user modality level, a multi-criteria decision making process is employed to form customized service strategies for context distribution. To implement the proposed approach, an SPSS case for supporting non-professional sports competitions is developed and assessed in terms of the model performance and user satisfaction. The results show that the model deployed in the system has a better performance than traditional machine learning models. According to the findings from the user experiments, the subjects are very satisfied with the personalized service bundles and intelligence, but find that the reliability is suffering. The case study shows that the proposed CA-SPSS approach contributes to extending the available definitions of context in the literature and effectively guides the further development of SPSSs, especially in sports and mobile health.

Product-Services for a Resource-Efficient and Circular Economy: An Updated Review

The development of product-service systems (PSSs) has become one of the most prominent ways in which to promote a circular and resource-efficient economy. These systems shift the focus from selling products as commodities to offering solutions that fulfil customers’ needs and provide added value. PSSs have gained attention due to their potential to foster sustainability, particularly in the context of the circular economy and resource efficiency. This review article analyzes the literature on PSSs for the period of 2016–2022, aiming to explore the links between PSSs, sustainability, circular economy, and resource efficiency. Close to 160 relevant articles were identified and examined. The overall findings reinforce contributions from previous studies, which denote a tendency towards sector-specific studies, barriers, and stimuli to implementation and adoption, and PSS design methodologies in specific industries and sectors. The overall results show a steady growth of PSS literature, as well as consistency in its definition, despite variations according to the perspective from which the topic is analyzed. This study focuses on eight main trends in PSS research, along with eight challenges that arise in its design, implementation, and adoption, identifying avenues for future research.

ORGANISING DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES: THE CASE OF PRODUCT–SERVICE SYSTEMS

This study addresses the development of new integrated product–service systems (PSSs). Most empirical research on the organisation of development processes has focussed on new product development, new service development, software development and new business model development in isolation; however, the development of new, complex PSSs that require the integration of these development efforts has received limited research attention. We address this literature gap through a qualitative, in-depth study of five firms operating in the business-to-business context. The findings demonstrate that all new PSS development processes did not implement and use one specific process model. Instead, the organisation of new PSS development processes was contingent upon the type of services to be offered and the target business model. This study proposes a contingency framework for development processes that provides considerable guidance to managers searching for ways to facilitate the processes of developing new PSSs.

Adaptability evaluation of conceptual design for smart product-service system: An integrated rough DEMATEL and Bayesian network model

Smart product service system (PSS) design evaluation plays a crucial role in the early design stage of Smart PSS development. It aims at considering the user's value proposition for Smart PSS in the dimensions of intelligence, sustainability, and society, while also ranking Smart PSS to support delivery risk management under uncertainty. However, related Smart PSS evaluation models advocate the use of multi-criteria decision models for obtaining the intrinsic value of PSS by ignoring the influence of the causality of criteria on Smart PSS design, which results in an unstable evaluation process. Additionally, the adaptiveness of Smart PSS has not been thoroughly explored, and determining the adoption intentions of Smart PSS can be challenging. To fill these gaps, a Smart PSS evaluation model that integrates a rough decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and a Bayesian network (BN) is proposed to support probabilistic reasoning for Smart PSS adaptiveness and reduce the risk of Smart PSS development. First, a set of 17 evaluation criteria is identified, and their causal relationships and weights of the criteria were identified using a rough DEMATEL under uncertainty. Second, a BN-based reasoning model for Smart PSS criteria is developed to evaluate the adaptability of smart PSS by constructing a conditional probability calculation model based on criterion weights. Finally, a multifunctional smart cooking center (MFSCC) case study is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. The belief propagation analysis results revealed the key criteria affecting the MFSCC service system development and provided design strategies to improve the adaptiveness of the Smart PSS.

REQUIREMENTS FOR A SMART PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK

AbstractNowadays, companies operate in increasingly competitive and dynamic markets with fast-changing customer needs. Simultaneously, major advances are being made in information and communication technologies, and the digitization of products is progressing. Based on these economic and technological trends, smart product-service systems (PSS) are emerging as a new form of business model. Recent studies show that the transition to developing smart PSS is a major challenge for companies and that they require methodological support, as their internal structures are undergoing significant changes.In order to provide a sound basis for support, we have undertaken a comprehensive study to identify requirements for a smart PSS development framework. 24 interviews and 5 workshops with companies that have recently focused on the development of smart PSS provide a rich set of empirical data to explore the challenges faced by companies today. We systematically analyzed the data and evaluated the results with our respondents. To increase the robustness and generalizability of our findings, we performed a contextual literature review and analyzed additional cases. This led us to a set of 17 requirements for a smart PSS development framework.

HOW ARE EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT STRATEGIES CURRENTLY EMPLOYED IN PRODUCT-SERVICE SYSTEM CASES? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW UNDERSCORING DRIVERS AND HINDRANCES

AbstractAiming to decouple value creation from resource consumption, the Circular Economy is considered an alternative to the current linear model of production and consumption. Among the innovative circular business models, Product-Service Systems (PSS) have been recognized as a possible route to achieve enhanced sustainability performance through the extension of product lifespans and the reduction of product substitution. However, PSS may lead to rebound effects due to less careful behavior during the use phase, which compromises product durability. Currently, the effect of non-ownership models on product care is not yet fully understood, nor are the strategies that could enable better product care. This research aims to deeper comprehend the consumer-product relationships in PSS solutions, as well as to shed light on the potential role of emotional durability in PSS development for product attachment. In order to do so, this paper analyses twelve Product-Service System cases derived from a systematic literature review, categorizing the emotional attachment strategies in each case, and identifying how these strategies might hinder or potentialize PSS solutions.

A fuzzy logic assessment framework for collaborative development of product-service systems

The development and value chain management of product-service systems (PSS) requires companies to look for new capabilities, regarding the disparate components of a PSS. However, interfirm collaboration in this context presents several particularities which may be challenging for the stakeholders and can lead to project failure. In this regard, there is still limited literature addressing frameworks and tools to manage the collaborative aspects of PSS from an organisational point of view. This paper presents a methodology to develop a framework to support companies in choosing suitable partners in a PSS development project and to improve collaboration. Thus, an assessment model is built using key performance indicators (KPIs) based on important collaboration performance factors, with the help of a fuzzy logic tool. This model is then tested and validated in two different PSS case studies.

A Fuzzy logic assessment Framework for collaborative development of Product-Service Systems

A Fuzzy logic assessment Framework for collaborative development of Product-Service Systems

A Knowledge Graph-based Interaction Design Method for Smart Product-service System Development

A Knowledge Graph-based Interaction Design Method for Smart Product-service System Development

Investigation of Product–Service System Components as Control Points for Value Creation and Development Process

Since the early 2000s, product–service systems (PSS) have become a research concern because the benefits provided cover many aspects. PSS is divided into three types, namely, Type 1: product-oriented, Type 2: use-oriented, and Type 3: result-oriented. PSS is a system comprising different components. As a system compiler, the components are the starting point for the value-creation process and continue to impact the PSS’s life cycle. However, elaboration of PSS components in previous studies has lacked. This situation indicates an urgent need to investigate PSS components and, thus, our evaluations of the value creation and the developmental processes of PSS seek to be broad and divergent. The investigation that forms the purpose of this article includes an elaboration of the PSS components, a calculation of the PSS components’ importance levels, statistical testing of the differences in importance levels due to PSS type, correlation testing between components, and a determination of the PSS components concerning the sustainability aspect based on the perspective of customers. The investigation began with the development of a questionnaire and a reliability–validity test. In addition, we identify the PSS components, test the difference in importance level using the Mann–Whitney test, and survey customers to determine the sustainability-related components. This article’s findings can be used to specify the critical point for value creation and PSS development. The elaborated PSS components are products, services, actors, stakeholder relationships, and technology. The difference in importance level indicates that PSS Type 2 customers perceive a distinction in the importance of technology. The essential components of each type of PSS are distinct, necessitating the use of different development strategies, including for sustainability aspects.

A proposed framework for product-service system business model design

Manufacturing companies still struggle to change their business models to offer product-service systems (PSS). The business model provides an integrating concept that allows the analysis of key dimensions involved in PSS development. However, less attention has been paid to how to plan PSS business models and their implementation. To overcome these challenges, this work proposes a framework for designing a PSS business model, considering the concurrent design of sustainable operations and business models. This work adopts a set of transdisciplinary research approaches, namely: (i) literature reviews; (ii) construction of the proposed framework adopting a concept-based approach; (iii) empirical studies involving two small PSS developers; (iv) assessment of the proposal; and (v) further improvement of the framework based on feedbacks, interactions with PSS developers, and literature reviews. The framework can represent a PSS business model by enabling the joint visualization of the components of the business model and their alignment. It integrates the PSS ‘value network’ based on ‘value proposition’, and includes ‘value drivers’ or sources of value creation, namely: novelty, effectiveness, complementarities, and loyalty. As a result, this paper contributes to offer a framework that adds to the PSS business model research, enabling the development of more sustainable PSS. In particular, it extends the identification of challenges concerning the PSS business model design. Finally, PSS business models should be designed to taken into account value-in-use, co-creation, and integration of the sustainable principles to generate superior value for the ‘value network’.

Kano-FBS model: a data-driven innovative design approach for smart product-service system development

Smart product-service system (Smart PSS), as an emerging digital paradigm, should meet user expectations and optimize their experience with a higher degree of sustainability. As a complex solution bundle with digital technology, its innovative design method differs from the existing method for traditional products. For a reason that massive user-generated data can be collected in the usage stage, which can be utilized to obtain new user requirements and calculate the user satisfaction degree. According to the real-time user preference information, some modules can be upgraded or adjusted in order to extend the lifecycle of the sustainable Smart PSS. Nevertheless, few studies focus on conducting innovative design by concerning massive information collected in the usage stage in a sustainable Smart PSS environment, let alone a novel approach to support the information re-use in product development of other fields. Aiming to fill this gap, a new innovative design methodology is proposed by combining Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) and Kano model to guide Smart PSS development. User requirements and behaviors are predicted and analysed by forecasting and collecting information from the perspective of information. As an illustrative case study, a self-service medicine vending system is described to explain the proposed approach. This research provides guidance for Smart PSS in the medical field.