Anna Öhrwall Rönnbäck

Development of product-service systems: challenges and opportunities for the manufacturing firm

Product-Service Systems (PSS) raise interesting opportunities for the manufacturing firm as the function is provided to meet customer needs rather than the physical hardware itself. PSS offerings based on the manufacturers knowledge about the product and the technology can increase its status as problem-solver and solution-provider, reduce life cycle cost and produce high revenue. However, PSS including, e.g. hardware, services, software and electronics are efficient and competitive only if developed for the specific purpose with features such as easy to maintain, upgradeable, with built-in sensors for collecting in-use and service data, and easy to use. This changes the requirements on the manufacturing firms development process. Looking back historically, the last century gives an interesting changing landscape of the rationale for the product-development methods used in manufacturing firms. This article, based on the previous research in the product- and service-development fields, and on empirical results from studies at several manufacturing firms, looks into how the engineering work is affected by PSS and how it can be enhanced for PSS, especially in terms of required competencies and other capabilities. It results in recommendations for a new, functional product-development process.

A decision support tool for predicting the impact of development process improvements

This paper presents a method for simulating the impact of improvements to the engineering design process. The method can be used by managers and teams to prioritize the most valuable process improvements among several suggested ones, before they actually take place. The method is based on the design structure matrix (DSM) developed by Steward (1981), and an extension of DSM called the work transformation model developed by Smith and Eppinger (1997). We introduce two new concepts, total process time and simulated to-be/as-is ratio. Two applications are presented. The first, a gas turbine blade development process, illustrates the estimated gain of a process improvement, and evaluates the actual implementation. The second application, a buyer-supplier product development project, shows how the method could be used as a decision support tool in an inter-organizational context. Input to the process simulation comes from process descriptions and estimates of anticipated effects of process change at the activity level. Output shows the effect of such a change on a total process level.

Remanufacturing of Products used in Product Service System Offerings

As a product service system provider it is important to consider its benefits and drawbacks. Connecting the product service system with a remanufacturing system has a good potential of being economically and environmentally beneficial. This paper elucidates the case of three different remanufacturers and how their relation with their core provider affects their business. Products sold as a part of a product service system have great potential of being remanufactured in an efficient manner. This is for example due to large possibilities to plan the remanufacturing operations and to achieve pre-information about the cores coming in to the remanufacturing facilities.

Learning networks : a method for Integrated Product and Service Engineering - experience from the IPSE project

The aim with the Integrated Product and Service Engineering (IPSE) project is to develop a methodology for companies that want to make the journey of moving from selling products to also sell Integrated Product and Service Offerings. In order to achieve that major changes are needed in the companies. In this paper the learning network approach is described as well as the content of the workshop series that the companies participated in. The findings show that a learning network approach is beneficial methodology for achieving changes in the companies, since the participants learn from each other and from the researchers.

FAST-GROWING SMEs AND THE ROLE OF INNOVATION

In a study of 409 Swedish SMEs, the difference between the highest growing, which can be characterized as gazelles, and the lowest growing companies were examined regarding performance change over a four year period and what contributed to the growth from an innovation perspective. It was concluded that, besides growing, the highest growing companies also showed high profitability,increased number of employees, and significantly higher markets shares locally, nationally and internationally than the lowest growing companies. Several traits were found to contribute to this. The highest growing companies had a significantly higher portion of new products as part of the turnover during the four years studied and they perceived themselves as differentiating from their competitors concerning: (1) offering better products, (2) understanding customer needs better, (3) having a higher pace or being more agile, and (4) keeping costs down. They also found it more important to take risks, reinvest any profit, and to focus on growth than the lowest growing companies, and this regardless of industry.

Using company-academia networks for improving Product/Service Systems at large companies

Many manufacturers are shifting focus for different reasons from being providers of mainly physical products to providing increased services in their customer offerings. Traditionally, the focus of manufacturing companies has been more on product development than service development; this is one reason why it is important for Product/Service Systems (PSS) developers to meet others who understand this situation. This chapter describes challenges large PSS providers in Sweden are facing, and how these can be explored and discussed within a PSS company–academia network setting. It is concluded that during the three first years of network meetings, this approach has been a success. In addition, the experiences gained from participation in this network have resulted in recommendations for PSS providers and researchers thinking of starting up similar networks and/or building ones has already begun.

VIEW AND MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATIVENESS UPON SUCCESSION IN FAMILY-OWNED SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into how the successors of family-owned manufacturing SMEs view and manage innovativeness. Research into company takeovers mainly focuses on large companies and little is known about innovativeness in research on family-owned businesses, often SMEs. This paper presents findings from ten company successions, five of which describe family successions and five external ones. The paper points to that there is little difference in how various types of successor view and manage innovativeness. A successor is chosen with care and this also influences the view and management of innovativeness; other criteria seem to apply in the succession and radical changes can only be introduced if a number of contextual factors are managed properly. The paper also indicates that while financial constraints may limit innovations, a strong financial situation is not an antecedent for innovativeness.

Managing complexity in collaborative development: modeling requirements and enhancing communication

Abstract The aim of this article is to suggest a concept for efficient support of communication in collaborative development. Focus is set on how information technology and a model-based approach can improve efficiency in collaborative development of complex systems. Because of increasing complexity, most systems developers cannot have all the required competence within the company and are forced to outsource much of the development work to suppliers. This leads to problems in management when several parties are involved; poor communication in general and poorly communicated requirements in particular introduce great risk. To deal with these problems, we suggest a concept based on modeling of requirements early in the development process, and enhanced communication using web technology throughout the project. This would improve efficiency in geographically distributed projects and should lead to earlier detection of errors, inconsistencies, ambiguities, and shorter development time as well as improved quality. The study was carried out in the aircraft industry and focuses on the development of airborne systems. We believe that the results are generally applicable in many other industries.

Environmentally-conscious design methods for manufacturing firms with servicification

Servicification is a key toward environmental conscious business in the manufacturing industry After looking at the business and economic implications of Integrated Product and Service Offerings, i ...