Development of knowledge-intensive product-service systems: Outcomes from the MaintenanceKIBS project

Jyri Hanski, Susanna Kunttu, Minna Räikkönen, Markku Reunanen

    Research output: Book/ReportReport

    Abstract

    Many manufacturing companies are considering the opportunities which industrial services can offer them along their core products. The development of services offers the companies new growth opportunities. The growth of technology-based knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) has been enabled by outsourcing and globalisation, for instance. Moreover, the profitability of services is usually higher than the profitability of the other industrial businesses, and they offer profits throughout the entire life cycle of the product. The development of integrated product-service solutions is not without challenges. Product and service design are typically accomplished separately in different organization units. Technical personnel are responsible for the development of physical products while service planning is made by the marketing organization. Consequently services are generally planned afterwards, causing problems in the compatibility of products and services. Moreover, in many cases too little attention has been paid to the business analysis of product-service systems (PSS), for example, life cycle profit evaluation or revenue logic assessment of alternative product-service systems. In manufacturing companies, the processes related to the development of products are usually systematic, but the service development is intuitive and disconnected from the product development processes. However, the services offered and developed should be compatible with the existing product and service portfolio. Customers increasingly demand solutions from their suppliers that are comprehensive and fulfil the customer needs. The development of product-service design processes enables the companies to design solutions consisting of the best possible combination of products and services from the perspective of the customer and the supplier. The adoption of PSS design helps the companies to take the services into account when developing products and vice versa. With the help of the new PSS design methods the lead-times of the development processes may be shortened, and better quality solutions achieved when the specific characteristics of the products and services can be taken into account as early as possible. The goal of the MaintenanceKIBS project is to develop methods for knowledge-intensive service and product design. For instance, we provide tools and practices for concurrent design of product and service, for managing and utilizing information gathered in different planning phases and for assessing the life cycle costs and profitability of the alternative product-service-concepts.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationEspoo
    PublisherVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
    Number of pages74
    ISBN (Electronic)978-951-38-7834-4
    Publication statusPublished - 2012
    MoE publication typeNot Eligible

    Publication series

    SeriesVTT Technology
    Number21
    ISSN2242-1211

    Keywords

    • Maintenance
    • knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS)
    • product-service systems (PSS)

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