Giacomo Copani

The relevance of service in European manufacturing industries

Purpose – Case study findings increasingly indicate that the implementation of service‐based business concepts is becoming a global business trend. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a broad European survey to understand the extent to which service infusion has already deeply affected manufacturing industries and the factors influencing service infusion.Design/methodology/approach – Data from 3,376 companies participating in the European Manufacturing Survey were included in an evaluation of service offerings and service sales. Multivariate data analyzes were used to develop statistically relevant conclusions regarding service infusion and the factors influencing it.Findings – Whereas, the vast majority of companies surveyed offer services, the turnover generated by services was still low, and the adopted service strategies did not seem fully developed. The most significant determinant of service sales was the breadth of services offered. Other relevant explanatory factors included the characteristic...

DEMAT: sustainability assessment of new flexibility-oriented business models in the machine tools industry

New flexibility-oriented business models represent a novelty in business model research. They aim at optimising the management of manufacturing flexibility in turbulent environments through the offering of added-value services by system suppliers. However, they are currently defined at theoretical level and their economic sustainability for customers and suppliers has to be quantitatively demonstrated. In this paper, a methodology to assess the economic performance of flexibility-oriented business models based on probabilistic event-decision trees modelling is presented. The methodology was applied to a real industrial case and simulations were performed to identify win-win conditions that make business models sustainable for customer and supplier. Results allowed to understand which are the main variables determining flexibility-oriented business models’ success and they constitute a reference for companies willing to innovate their business model in this direction.

Holistic Approach for Jointly Designing Dematerialized Machine Tools and Production Systems Enabling Flexibility-Oriented Business Models

Machine tools and production systems are traditionally designed in two separate stages, thus severely penalize the possibility to match customer production requirements. This work introduces the concept of dematerialization for machine tools and systems whose design principles answer to energy savings and cutting edge performance requirements across their lifecycles. The proposed approach consists of four main steps: new business total-life cycle services, design of dematerialized machine tools, process planning and configuration of production system solutions. The benefits coming from the adoption of machine and system dematerialization strategy have been addressed with reference to an industrial case study.

Machine Tool Industry: Beyond Tradition?

Service infusion in the machine tool industry is regarded as a key-competitive factor for the future of this strategic sector and of manufacturing companies that use machine tools for production. This chapter illustrates the findings of a research that was conducted at European level to assess the state of the art of servitization in the machine tool sector and to outline future challenges. Through quantitative research, five clusters of machine tool servitizers were identified, distinguished by the type of service value proposition and the service supply chain configuration. Clusters outlined that, even if the offering of services is very spread in this sector, the servitization process is far from being mature. In fact, the type of offered services are mainly product-related services, many servitizers resulted not to have adapted their supply chain to the service business, and the most advanced service strategies observed in the sample did not lead to additional financial benefits. To allow the in-depth interpretation of these findings, qualitative research aimed at understanding the cultural and managerial approach of clustered servitizers was conducted. A conservative cultural approach was recognized as a strong barrier to servitization. It generally derives from low service competences, but it can also be generated by customers’ unbalanced contractual power, which forces machine builders to enter the service arena without being prepared. Case study research permitted also to identify few companies being a successful example of advanced servitization. By analysing their example, it was clear that a proactive attitude to service innovation and the approach to servitization as a multidisciplinary structured change management project can represent a key-success factor. Managerial implications are presented at the end of the chapter, together with suggestions for future research.

New Financial Approaches for the Economic Sustainability in Manufacturing Industry

Equipment finance is becoming a crucial task in the manufacturing sector, where the value of production systems can be considerable and the appropriate financing choice can impact on company competitiveness for years. Several variables, requiring new interdisciplinary competencies and approaches, have to be evaluated by companies while taking financial decisions. A survey realised in “Next - Next Generation Production Systems” FP6 European project revealed that a new financial culture and adequate instruments are needed to sustain European manufacturing competitiveness. This paper proposes a structured approach for the selection of suitable financial methods supporting the acquisition of production capacity in the frame of innovative manufacturing business models.

A structured methodology for Business Network design

In the new manufacturing environment, a single enterprise does not often own all resources and skills to offer competitive solutions. Therefore, such enterprises become part of enterprise networks of independent core competencies in order to produce marketable products. Thus, Business Networking is an innovative business paradigm that can help companies to remain competitive in the market. Nevertheless, its practical implementation is very complicated because of the several dimensions that it involves, and, especially in network start up phase, because it is often left to the case and not managed with adequate methodologies and tools. The present paper proposes a structured methodology for long term business network design that is based on a network descriptive model and that should be applied by a “network architect”. The proposed methodology has been developed and applied in the frame of KoBaS project funded through European Commission Program.

An Innovative Pattern To Design New Business Models In The Machine Tool Industry

Since some years, European machine tool companies are facing a turbulent market, where Asiatic competitors are becoming more and more aggressive. In such context, technology improvement is not anymore sufficient to preserve their market position: the evolution of their business model towards the offer of value added services will be a fundamental key for future success. This paper, realised within “Next Generation Production Systems” FP6 European Project, proposes an innovative operative pattern guiding machine tool companies in the business model innovation decisions.

A New Perspective of Product-Service Business Models for Customized Manufacturing in Healthcare

The notable increase of average life expectancy, especially in developed countries, has resulted in a dramatic increase of aging population within the past decade. As a consequence, a better healthcare system is required to serve this aging population both in terms of healthcare service and medical products in order to provide them a better quality of life. To this end, customized medical products which are designed based on individual requirements of each patient have a considerable impact on the treatment process and quality of life. The emerging innovative manufacturing technologies facilitate development and production of customized medical products. Thanks to the new technologies such as additive manufacturing, it is even possible to produce the customized medical products efficiently in the hospitals in patients proximity, which would transform the role of the hospital from a user to a producer of the medical products. In the other words, the hospital would extend its core business from a healthcare service provider to a healthcare product manufacturer and service provider. Accordingly, a new business model is required to facilitate and support such a shift by focusing on both product and service perspectives and hence taking into account an integrated product-service system approach. This chapter discusses innovative product-service business models based on customized manufacturing of medical products exploiting the potential of innovative technologies and the exchange of innovative products-services between the hospital (as the manufacturer) and the machinery producers (as the supplier). A structured business model design approach is presented, enabling the generation of different alternatives through different configurations of business model building blocks. Each alternative differs from another in terms of level of servitization and intensity of the relationship between customer and supplier. Eventually the best-fit business model can be generated and implemented by the hospital, based on the potential benefits and challenges that each alternative entails. The latter aspect will be also covered in the chapter through having a deeper look on pros and cons of each business model alternative.

An integrated framework for combined designing dematerialised machine tools and production systems enabling flexibility-oriented business models

The current work outlines an innovative production system design and management approach based on the concept of dematerialisation whose major purpose is to reduce the amount of material, energy and degrees of flexibilities of machine tools and systems to the minimum requirements based on the user needs. The successful introduction of this new generation of Dematerialised Machines and Systems relies on a structured design framework. It starts from an accurate identification of the business models driving the company strategy and the identification of specific markets where the dematerialisation principle is a winning leverage to compete. Based on the analysis of production demand and the reference market context, the framework presents a set of methodologies related to the pallet configuration and process planning, the machine tool configuration and the system configuration, all nested together. The benefits of the Dematerialisation framework will be investigated with regard to a set of benchmarks coming from the industrial practice.

Market Analysis, Technological Foresight, and Business Models for Micro-manufacturing

Micro-parts and micro-systems based products are considered as a crucial value-adding factor for many industrial sectors in Europe and thus an increasingly important contributor to Europe’s industrial and economic future. In this regard, it is quite relevant and important to understand the existing and future trends of micro-manufacturing not only from technological perspective but also from non-technological and managerial perspective. This chapter aims to provide a required body of knowledge for the readers in terms of market analysis, technological foresights and business models for micro-manufacturing. It will specifically discuss about current existing business drivers, sectors of application, market trends, future technologies and sectors of application, as well as existing and potential future business models for micro-manufacturing.