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This paper presents a study of how the use of product configurators affects business processes of engineering-oriented companies. A literature study shows that only a minor part of product configuration research deals with the effects of product configuration, and that the ones that do are mostly vague when reporting the effects of configurator projects. Only six cases were identified, which provide estimates of the actual size of lead time reduction achieved from product configurators. To broaden this knowledge, this paper presents the results of a study of 14 companies concerning the impact of product configurators on business processes related to the creation of quotes and detailed product specifications. The study documents impressive results of the application of configurator technology. For example, in the data retrieved the use of configurators was estimated to have implied up to a 99.9% reduction of the quotation lead time with an average estimated reduction of 85.5%.

This paper presents a method for calculating cost savings of shared architectures in industrial companies called AME (Architecture Mapping and Evaluation). The main contribution is an operational method to evaluate the cost potential and evaluate the number of product architectures in an industrial company. Experiences from the case company show it is possible to reduce the number of architectures with 60% which leads to significant reduction of direct material and labor costs. This can be achieved without compromising the market offerings of products. Experiences from the case study indicates cost reductions between 0,5 and 2 % of turnover. The main implication is that the method provides a quantitative basis for the discussion on whether or not to implement shared product architectures. This means a more fact based approach is introduced.

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PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how the product architecture and service architecture methodology can be applied in strategic maintenance optimization to reduce the non-value-adding variance of maintenance, decrease the complexity and ensure alignment in maintenance practices in asset-intensive companies. The proposed maintenance architecture model will make it possible to make data-driven decisions regarding how the equipment should be grouped and maintained.Design/methodology/approachThe research approach is considered exploratory, and the main research strategy is a case study. The maintenance architecture model is developed based on the product architecture methodology and then tested in three different cases in the oil and gas sector.FindingsThrough the maintenance architecture model, it is possible to pair a quantitative data-driven approach with qualitative understanding of dependencies between equipment, maintenance actions and maintenance work management processes, enabling a more holistic and top-down data-driven approach to improving maintenance, than what currently exists in literature.Originality/valueThe proposed model provides a contribution to the understanding of maintenance and is positioned at a detailed level, different from other maintenance improvement models. This model is focused on the main drivers of maintenance that can be utilized at the strategic level compared to optimization of maintenance for individual pieces of equipment.

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For products with a myriad of systems, groups of specialised engineers develop entire technical subsystems , and great effort is needed to integrate these systems for fulfilling the product's intended properties describing its purposeful behaviour. This way of developing products gets even more complex when using a mass customisation strategy because standard designs (reusable modules) have to be designed to fit a range of products. This product development setup requires that engineers working in different technical domains collaborate and are able to share information in a unified way. This article presents a visual design tool-the Interface diagram-which aims to support the engineering process of developing modularity in complex product systems. The tool is a model of a product system representing the arrangement of its elements and their interfaces. The tool has similar characteristics to a high-level product architecture model, aiming at supporting integration of technical subsystems by documenting interfaces and interactions among components from different functional subsystems and among different physical modules. One of the objectives for using the design tool is to support the activity of decomposing a product system into modules consisting of components developed by different engineering teams. The usefulness of the Interface diagram has been tested in an industrial development project showing positive results of shortening the lead time and minimising rework. Moreover, the Interface diagram has been used in interplay with a broader Product Lifecycle Management system. This allows the product structures from the Interface diagram to be enriched with detailed product documentation like computer-aided design, requirements, view models, design specifications and interface descriptions.

Abstract:This paper seeks to improve the understanding of how service-based companies can benefit from developing and delivering service offerings from a standardised core of service modules, which are organised through a service architecture.Research within the field is relatively sparse and there is scope for an explicit definition of elements related to the development of modular service platforms and architectures. A study of existing literature, combined with a comprehensive case study in a global engineering consultancy, has created the basis for development and evaluation of the conceptual model for modular service design synthesis presented in this paper. The case study is based on internal documentation and a high level of interview data. Inductive research methods have been used for the analysis. The presented conceptual model defines three suggested dimensions (Market Segmentation, Service Roadmap and Service Architecture Layout) to be included in development of modular service platforms and architectures. Testing indicates a significant standardisation potential for service configuration across service families. Our understanding is 3 that the approach can increase strategic flexibility and adaptability to changes in a quick evolving service market. The empirical part of this paper is exploratory in nature and is limited to one provider of high-end engineering consultancy services. Thus, further research will be needed to verify the aspects of the presented methodology to allow a further generalisation of our findings.Nevertheless, this paper contributes to the emerging literature on service modularity by presenting a specific operational approach for description and utilisation of modular service platforms and architectures.