Product Service System Design Research Articles

Elderly clothing upgrading in product-service system design using extended Kansei Engineering methodology

PurposeThis study aims to integrate fall-protection function into the elderly clothing to meet both the daily life and fall-protection needs of the elderly people, thereby upgrading the performance of elderly clothing.Design/methodology/approachThis study identified the design strategies of elderly clothing using an Extended Kansei Engineering methodology. Extended Kansei Engineering methodology is a new design framework developed from the traditional Kansei Engineering methodology to meet the design requirements of the product-service system. This study focuses on the product section of product-service system design. According to the product design process of the Extended Kansei Engineering methodology, this study first collected and organized the design elements and Kansei words of elderly clothing. Then a questionnaire was designed using Semantic Differential Scale. Finally, the questionnaire survey was conducted and the collected data was analysed to understand the consumption preferences of elderly people. A total of 399 elderly people aged 65 and older provided valuable design insights for this survey.FindingsThe research findings include the product design strategies for the development of elderly clothing, as well as a product prototype canvas and a product prototype elderly clothing developed based on the design strategies.Practical implicationsThe research findings can provide competitive design strategies for the development of elderly clothing, thereby upgrading the performance of elderly clothing.Social implicationsThis elderly clothing integrates fall-protection function to reduce the risk of injury for elderly people due to falls, thereby helping society alleviate the medical and healthcare pressure caused by falls for elderly people.Originality/valueThe research findings can provide competitive design strategies for the development of elderly clothing. Furthermore, the Extended Kansei Engineering methodology introduced in this study can provide product and service designers with design methods that are more in line with the development trend of modern product-service system business models.

Evaluation and instantiation of a generic process model for early-stage sustainable product-service system design within three manufacturing companies

Although product-service systems (PSS) have been in focus in literature and industry for some years, no generically agreed or applied PSS design process exists thus far, in contrast to the neighbouring fields of product development or service design, respectively. This paper presents the evaluation and instantiation of a recently proposed generic process model (GPM) for early-stage sustainable PSS design in capital goods manufacturing companies. The model was applied in three case studies with an aim to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the GPM concerning eight criteria, and study its instantiation process actions to a company-specific model while simultaneously identifying and proposing solutions for challenges to instantiation. Based on observation and feedback received from the companies, the GPM shows promise for widespread applicability, aided by proposed guidelines for instantiating the GPM to company-specific contexts, as also described in this paper. These guidelines aim to facilitate the translation of the GPM into pragmatic models for practitioners in the field of PSS design, thus increasing its chances of successful implementation as well as impact.

Product-Service System business model for plastics industry

Traditional business models increasingly less accurately accommodate changes taking place in the market. Growing competition, sharing economy, digital transformation, corporate environmental responsibility, and increasing customer requirements exert pressure on enterprises to change their business mentality. One can easily observe the need for integrated, environment-friendly solutions that generate new value added to customers. To achieve that, we need new business models that would allow to discover new potential in new markets.In the face of dynamic market changes, traditional business models are increasingly less capable of addressing the growing competition, sharing economy, digital transformation, corporate environmental responsibility, and the rising demands of customers. There is a clear need for integrated, environmentally friendly solutions that generate new added value for customers. Achieving this goal requires the development of new business models that enable the discovery of potential in new markets.Therefore, searching for and creating new business models that would stand up to requirements is vital. These problems could be solved by a PSS considered a personalized business model operating in an extended time horizon. PSS is an opportunity to sell product functions and availability, as well as a perspective for multiple uses of products.This paper presents a pioneering attempt to develop a Product-Service System (PSS) business model specifically tailored for the plastics industry. An innovative approach consists in the integration of a machinery and a tool into a production unit and adding an array of services to it. This groundbreaking research, unprecedented in its scale, involved a comprehensive questionnaire-based study conducted across 60 plastics processing plants employing prevalent production techniques. The study is unique in its extensive scope and depth, as such an analysis of PSS business models within the plastics industry has not been previously explored in the open literature. The research methodology applied is thorough, covering a wide range of practical aspects crucial for the effective implementation of PSS in the plastics sector. This paper stands out for its detailed examination of 60 enterprises in the plastics industry, focusing on their interest in 95 services essential for the optimal operation of plastics processing plants and their engagement with representatives from the plastics industry. This extensive study offers valuable insights into the usage of machines and tools in plastics processing, as well as the specific needs, requirements, and challenges faced by businesses in this sector.Results of analyses demonstrate that interest in services differs depending on the size of an enterprise, processing technique, having a toolroom or not, product range, and the duration of breakdowns. A new PSS business model for plastics processing was built based on the analysis of PSS design methods and sectors to which they are addressed, PSS used in practice, plastics processing sector, questionnaire-based studies conducted among plastics processing plants, statistical analyses, advice and consultancy sessions with experts from the investigated industry, finances and trade patterns for machines. Until to date the question of precise design of such a business model for the plastics processing sector has neither been examined nor discussed or evidenced. The paper aims to bridge this gap. The approach to the issue was innovative, based on a questionnaire survey and consultations with experts which allowed to faithfully reproduce the current condition of the investigated sector. In addition, each service added on to the production unit underwent a detailed statistical analysis. The hereto presented business model is extremely comprehensive as it can be used in plastics processing plants of different sizes.

Dynamic user profile construction and its application to smart product-service system design: A maternity-oriented case study

The human-centric philosophy is considered a crucial development direction for smart Product-Service Systems (smart PSS). Smart PSS has effectively advanced the circular economy by enhancing user experience, incorporating servitization and digital servitization, and extending product lifecycle, among other key aspects of sustainable development. However, there is currently a lack of a reasonable, accurate, and actionable framework and methodology to express the human element, namely user profiling, within this philosophy. To address this gap, this paper utilizes statistical methods such as factor analysis, cluster analysis, and regression analysis, building upon the concept of traditional user profiling. The aim is to integrate the three prominent approaches of goal-oriented, scenario-based, and data-driven user profiling, with the goal of complementing each other and designing a top-level user profiling framework for smart PSS. Furthermore, Industry 4.0 technologies and text mining techniques are employed to collect data on users' product and service usage. As these data contain real-time information about user needs, behaviors and goals at different time periods, they can be used to construct dynamic features of user profiling, and ultimately achieve the construction of dynamic user profiling for smart PSS. To validate the proposed user profiling framework and dynamic user features of smart PSS, this paper presents a case study focusing on the user group of maternal women. This case study promotes the in-depth exploration of smart PSS research in expressing the human element.

Design of product-service systems in SMEs: a review of current research and suggestions for future directions

PurposeDespite increasing focus among scholars and practitioners on the design of product-service systems (PSS), there exists no compilation of current knowledge on the role played by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in designing such systems. Thus, this paper sets out to identify and organise the existing research and suggest questions for future research.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was performed to identify and provide in-depth details on key themes in the literature addressing the design of PSS in SMEs.FindingsThis paper identifies five themes in the literature on the design of PSS in SMEs: motives, challenges, SME characteristics, methods and digitalisation. The themes are interrelated, and SME characteristics seem to be at the core as they are related to all the other themes. Gaps in the current knowledge are identified, and questions for future research are suggested.Originality/valueThe suggestions for future research provide a starting point for expanding the research on PSS design and devising practical support for SMEs.

A user-centred collective system design approach for Smart Product-Service Systems: A case study on fitness product design

Emerging technologies have significantly contributed to the evolution of traditional product-service systems (PSS) into smart PSS. This transformation demands a fresh perspective and a more inventive design approach. In response, this study proposes a new User-Centred Collective System Design (CSD) framework and process for Smart PSS design, aiming to enhance stakeholder engagement during the entire design process, thus promoting highly effective and creative design solutions. A case study, titled ‘Next-G Smart Fitness PSS Design’, was carried out to test and implement this approach, contrasting the results of the CSD method with a designer-centred method. The outcomes showed a marked improvement in product novelty and user desirability of the design outcomes when using the proposed design framework. The proposed CSD framework could offer beneficial insights and user-centric viewpoints for practitioners dealing with complex challenges linked to smart PSS design.

A model-based Approach to assess the Circularity of Product-Service Systems

The principles of circular economy (CE) are widely recognized as a solution for the challenges arising through climate change and shortage of resources. Product-Service Systems (PSS) are expected to have a higher degree of circularity compared to standalone products. To exploit the potentials of PSS towards circularity, different CE strategies need to be considered. Those CE strategies, such as remanufacturing or reuse, can have large deviations in their resulting effects for PSS providers. To quantify the possible impacts of different circularity strategies for PSS, a novel assessment method based on system dynamics modelling is presented in this paper.With the proposed method, the effects of different CE strategies on material demands, unavoidable waste and PSS longevity can be quantified. Thereby, CE strategies for PSS become comparable and their benefits can be measured. The method is directed to scholars as well as PSS providers to assess the circularity of PSS and support decision making in PSS design and realization.

Leveraging Natural Language Processing for enhanced remote troubleshooting in Product-Service Systems: A case study

In Product-Service System (PSS) offerings is crucial to deliver services in the shortest time to maximize customer satisfaction. One of the first contacts that customers have with the provider is usually through remote assistance delivered via telephone or email. Thus, the development of a structured troubleshooting procedure is fundamental for fast problem identification and resolution. While customers exchange with help desk technicians are saved in a company database, they are often lacking proper structure and, thus, are rarely analyzed. This poses a challenge since aggregated data can provide valuable insights for knowledge extraction and reuse, benefiting PSS lifecycle management and improvement (e.g., enhancing troubleshooting, maintenance service, or PSS design). The paper presents a case study where the textual data collected from the customer ticket database have been analyzed to extract the most recurrent problems and the frequently suggested solutions and improve remote troubleshooting.

Kollaborative Geschäftsmodelle im Maschinenbau/Collaborative business models in mechanical engineering – Methodology for conceptual design of collaborative industrial product service systems

In der Maschinenbaubranche bieten Dienstleistungen eine wichtige Möglichkeit, sich vom Umfeld abzuheben und die eigene Leistungsfähigkeit zu steigern. Die stark produktorientierten Unternehmen der Branche stehen bei dieser Portfolioergänzung vor neuen Herausforderungen. Die Einbindung von Kollaborationspartnern bietet die Chance, diese Kompetenzlücke zu schließen. Auf Basis einer Mehrfachfallstudie wird eine Methodik entwickelt, um die entsprechenden kollaborativen Geschäftsmodelle zu erstellen.

Development of a methodology for the derivation of technical requirements for (cyber-) physical product-service systems in service-oriented business models

Digitalization and Industry 4.0 are catalysts for business model innovation, particularly in machinery and plant engineering. Service-oriented business models (Subscription, pay-per-use, …) have emerged as a promising avenue, fostering sustainable product-service systems (PSS) and nurturing enduring customer relationships. Unlike traditional transactional models, where customers make one-time purchases of products or services, subscription models involve regular payments for access to offerings over time or provide on-demand access to services or resources, often through cloud-based platforms. This offers significant advantages for vendors, allowing for predictable, recurring revenue streams and the ability to tailor offerings better, thus evolving customer needs. Simultaneously, customers benefit from increased flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and access to the latest solutions, creating a win-win scenario for both parties. The transition to "as-a-service" models significantly changes the prerequisites and requirements for the PSS and thus requires a comprehensive reassessment of its core requirements. While various approaches exist for designing PSS within the machine tool industry, none systematically delineates the specific design guidelines required to adapt effectively for service-oriented business models. This paper describes a methodology for the derivation of characteristics of service-oriented business models in the machine tool industry and their implications for the design of (cyber-) physical PSS.

How the Characteristics of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises influence Product-Service Systems Design Challenges

How the Characteristics of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises influence Product-Service Systems Design Challenges

An upgradable product-service system design method based on kaos and time-axis

An upgradable product-service system design method based on kaos and time-axis

Future Innovation Framework (FIF) for Value Co-creation of Smart Product-Service System Design in a Global Manufacturing Company

Future Innovation Framework (FIF) for Value Co-creation of Smart Product-Service System Design in a Global Manufacturing Company

Design and engineering of value-driven Smart PSS for manufacturing companies: Design risk anticipation with sPS2Risk Framework

Digital servitization has emerged over the last years, at the convergence between digital- and service-oriented business strategies, leading manufacturing companies to transform their business models through the adoption of so-called Smart PSS (Smart Product-Service-Systems). As a contribution to the relatively recent scientific literature on Smart PSS design, this paper presents a framework for the design and engineering of Smart PSS offers, based on a value-driven approach. The added-value of the framework is notably to integrate (i) a smart PSS prototyping approach associated with (ii) a risk management process, all along the design process. When a manufacturing company has to shift from a ‘product-centric’ to a ‘Smart PSS’ business model, sPS2Risk Framework helps decision-makers anticipating and mitigating key innovation risks. The paper presents the generic framework and its experimentation for an industrial case study, in the heating appliance sector.

Configuration optimization of product-service system design requirements based on hesitant information axiom

Product-service system (PSS) has attracted attention of manufacturers to shift from product-providing to solution-providing, which is a marketable set of products and services. The existing researches emphasize the fulfillment of individualized customer requirements through different PSS configurations. The PSS planning phase is of high importance in generating conceptual schemes, which translates customer requirements (CRs) to design requirements (DRs). In this paper, a systematic decision-making approach based on QFD is put forward aiming to configure the PSS design requirements (DRs). To address the uncertainty and hesitancy in QFD modeling, a hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs) is applied to elicit the experts’ linguistic preferences in evaluating the importance of CRs and the relationships between CRs and DRs. To dealing with the group decision-making problems concerning the HFLTSs, the min-upper operator and the max-lower operator assemble the experts’ evaluation results into a linguistic interval, and then the numerical results can be obtained by using the 2-tuple linguistic representation model and the interval preference degree computation. A non-linear 0-1 programming model is proposed to select the target DRs’ specifications for maximizing customer satisfaction under cost constraint. In order to objectively determine the satisfaction degree of each optional specification of DR, the information axiom is introduced to construct the objective function via information content computation. To deal with the qualitative DRs, HFLTSs and information axiom are combined and hesitant information axiom (HIA) is proposed. Finally, a DRs optimization model is established using HIA and the imprecision method. A case study is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimal PSS planning approach developed.

Enhancing Income as a Starting Point for Designing Sustainable Health Product-Service Systems for Chronically Ill Elderly in Rural Areas

Insufficient income, inadequate healthcare resources, and insufficient chronic disease management awareness pose a fundamental obstacle to the sustained health maintenance of elderly individuals with chronic diseases in rural areas. In response to these challenges, this study adopted a research-through-design approach and introduced system design thinking by incorporating new stakeholders, experiential insights, and services. Initially, during the background research stage, a semi-structured interview was conducted to gain an understanding of the pains, needs, and potential opportunities of the target users. Subsequently, in the design model construction stage, desk research was carried out to refine and integrate the common components identified in various design models. In a focus group, these components were then incorporated into the development of a Sustainable Health Product-Service System Design Model tailored for rural elderly with chronic diseases after refining the pains, needs, and potential opportunities defined in the first stage. This design model encompassed elements including a background layer, a stakeholder layer, a funding layer, a product layer, a service layer, and an information layer. In the system design and design model validation stage, a design project aimed at health maintenance was launched within Liyang Town, with the design thinking method following a process of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing. Throughout the project, the established model guided the design process and facilitated the conceptualization and implementation of a Product-Service system. In conclusion, an investigation encompassing 15 elderly individuals was undertaken to analyze their income balance, health condition, health awareness, and their satisfaction with the health system. This analysis spanned the period both before and after their involvement in the project. The outcomes of this examination revealed notable enhancements across all three dimensions evaluated, highlighting the positive impact of the project on the elderly participants. Furthermore, the project’s social benefits were also comprehensively established.

Evolutionary algorithms for a simheuristic optimization of the product-service system design

Offering Product-Service Systems (PSS) becomes an established strategy for companies to increase the provided customer value and ensure their competitiveness. Designing PSS business models, however, remains a major challenge. One reason for this is the fact that PSS business models are characterized by a long-term nature. Decisions made in the development phase must take into account possible scenarios in the operational phase. Risks must already be anticipated in this phase and mitigated with appropriate measures. Another reason for the design phase being a major challenge is the size of the solution space for a possible business model. Developers are faced with a multitude of possible business models and have the challenge of selecting the best one. In this article, a simheuristic optimization approach is developed to test and evaluate PSS business models in the design phase in order to select the best business model configuration beforehand. For optimization, a proprietary evolutionary algorithm is developed and tested. The results validate the suitability of the approach for the design phase and the quality of the algorithm for achieving good results. This could even be transferred to already established PSS.

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.

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.

Resilient Design of Product Service Systems with Automated Guided Vehicles

Automated guided vehicles undertake complex transportation tasks, for instance, in production and storage systems. In recent years, an increased focus on sustainability has occurred as the effects of ongoing climate change have become more apparent. Engineers are searching intensively for ways to design technical systems that are not only environmentally sustainable, but are also resilient to the challenges of the changing climate and other environmental conditions. The production of automated guided vehicles requires considerable resources; therefore, a long operation time is desirable for overall sustainability. The performance of transportation tasks requires certain processes, such as control, path planning, coordination/synchronization, and maintenance and update processes—the latter are also very important for a long operation time. This article proposes understanding these processes as services and to explore product service systems with automated guided vehicles. Due to their complexity, the efficient and safe operation of such systems can be at risk because of several factors, such as component faults, external attacks and disturbances. For several years both resilient control and resilience engineering have been researched as possible remedies. An extension of these two concepts to the early stages of system development processes and including the system’s hardware is proposed in this article. This extension is referred to as resilient design. A primary purpose of resilient design is sustainability through extended usability and planned updates. The main intention of this article is to provide a comprehensive understanding of resilient design through application to product service systems with automated guided vehicles. The basis for this contribution is an extensive literature review and detailed system analyses on different levels. The main research results include novel application modes for product development methods. The explanation of the results is supported by means of an illustrative example based on a product service system with automated guided vehicles.