Howard Lightfoot

Servitization in the Aircraft Industry: Understanding Advanced Services and the Implications of Their Delivery

The aircraft industry is relatively advanced in the adoption of servitization. The history of power-by-the-hour, for example, can be traced to the practices of Bristol Sidley in the 1960s. The extent of this adoption has helped to give an insight into how servitization affects the organisational structure, polices and processes of a manufacturer. In particular, what it takes for a manufacturer and its suppliers to successfully deliver advanced services such as power-by-the hour. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to describe a typical advanced service, and to highlight the challenges that supporting this model poses for a conventional manufacturing enterprise.