What’s in it for the Provider? : A Lifecycle-Focused Approach towards Designing for Value in Product-Service Systems

Abstract

As the value for customers of Product-Service Systems is increasingly understood, this thesis examines the question: What's in it for the Provider? Combining products and services into Product-Service Systems (PSS), which are o en owned and even operated by the company o ering them, is seen as an important element of conducting more sustainable business. e prospective environmental bene ts of PSS lie mainly in the improved resource-and operational e ciency. is is achieved by way of a critical shi in incentive structure: If an industrial company assumes responsibility for an o ering throughout the lifecycle, the terms on which that company operates in general are changed notably in comparison to traditional product sales. Instead of bene ting from a short lifetime through additional sales opportunities or making pro t through the sale of spare parts, in highly integrated PSS, each parts exchange, each technicians' visit and each day the lifetime of the o ering is reduced directly a ects the bottom line of the provider. Due to that, solely as a result of economic rationality, a provider of these o erings has an incentive to design in such a way that the life of this o ering is prolonged, need for spare parts is reduced, service activities are facilitated and simpli ed, and that the conditions are in place to allow for a second or third life of the o ering through remanufacturing. Regardless of this compelling logic, industrial companies at times fail to establish the preconditions to capturing these bene ts as they continue to rely on product and sales-centric design processes even though they provide PSS.is thesis examines this unexploited opportunity from two vantage points. On the one hand, methods conceived in academia to support industry in implementing and executing joint, lifecycle-focused design of products and services, and the use of these methods in practice, are examined. Here, the focus rstly lies on understanding how PSS are designed today, and secondly, on what should change about PSS design methods to improve their implementability and usability in industrial practice, so that they can ful ll their supposed role as facilitators of e cient PSS design and operation. On the other hand, the possible bene ts of providing speci cally designed and lifecycle-focused PSS as an industrial company are in focus. To this end, the value attained by providers throughout the use phase of PSS is investigated, to then identify possible approaches towards enhancing this value. Eventually, both focus-areas are joined in an e ort to examine the interaction between method-supported, lifecycle-oriented PSS design and the value attained by providers of such o erings.As a result of the research, a lacking adaptation of design processes to PSS is identi ed in the case companies. Further, shortcomings of PSS design methods conceived in academia, e.g. excessive complexity, lacking clarity and rigidity, are found in both literature as well as in a study with an industrial company. To take a rst step towards rectifying ...

Understanding and Supporting Product-Service System Designing : Preliminary Insights and Support for Designing Resource-Efficient and Effective Solutions

“…Empirical evidence regarding the economic and environmental benefits resulting from a transition towards the design and provision of PSSs are also reported in the literature (e.g., Lindahl, Sundin and Sakao, 2014;Matschewsky, 2016). Due to these reasons, PSSs are widely regarded as one of the most effective routes available for the societal transition towards a resource-efficient society and CE (Tukker, 2015).…”