How are product-service combined offers provided in Germany and Italy? Analysis with company sizes and countries

Abstract

A new business concept that offers products and services in a different way of traditional product-sales businesses is getting more attention especially in manufacturing industries. This paper investigates how this new business by means of integration of products and services is achieved in Germany and Italy. In addition, it analyzes the differences according to the company sizes. The results include that this type of business is in many cases motivated by their focus on customers and often consists of physical products and their maintenance. The Italian companies, as opposed to the German ones, often design their physical products specifically for this type of offers. From the analysis based on the size difference, small companies are found to achieve specific design for this type of offers while owning physical products. There do not seem to be any established methods or tools developed to support the development of such offers and within such methods/tools there would be room for more adaptation in form of physical product design.

Keywords

Product-service combination / functional sales / integrated product service engineering / service management / product design / maintenance

References

[1] Alonso-Rasgado T., Thompson G., Elfstrom B.. The design of functional (total care) products. Journal of Engineering Design, 2004, 15(6): 515-540.

[2] Alonso-Rasgado T., Thompson G.. A rapid design process for total care product creation. Journal of Engineering Design, 2006, 17(6): 509-531.

[3] Alting L., Legarth J.B.. Life cycle engineering and design. Annals of CIRP, 1995, 44(2): 569-580.

[4] Arai T., Shimomura Y.. Proposal of service CAD system-a tool for service engineering. Annals of the CIRP, 2004, 53(1): 397-400.

[5] Arai T., Shimomura Y.. Service CAD system-evaluation and quantification. Annals of the CIRP, 2005, 54(1): 463-466.

[6] Bullinger H.J., Scheer A.W.. Service Engineering, 2006, Berlin: Springer

[7] Goedkoop, M.J., Halen, C.J.V., Riele, H.R.T. & Rommens, P.J. (1999). Product Service Systems, Ecological and Economic Basics. Hague, Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment

[8] Hart C.. Mass customization: conceptual understandings, opportunities and limits. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1995, 6(2): 36-45.

[9] Lee J., Wang B.. Computer-Aided Maintenance, 1999, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers

[10] Lifset R.. Moving from products to services. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2000, 4(1): 1-2.

[11] Lindahl, M. & Ölundh, G. (2001). The meaning of functional sales. In: 8th CIRP International Seminar on Life Cycle Engineering-Life Cycle Engineering: Challenges and Opportunities, 211–220

[12] Lindahl, M., Sundin, E., Rönnbäck, A.Ö., Ölundh, G. & Östlin, J. (2006)a. Integrated product and service engineering-the IPSE project: changes to sustainable consumption. In: Workshop of the Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange (SCORE!) Network, supported by the EU’s 6th Framework Programme

[13] Lindahl, M., Sundin, E., Shimomura, Y. & Sakao, T. (2006)b. An interactive design model for service engineering of functional sales offers. In: International Design Conference, 897–904

[14] Luskin J., Blackman A.B.. Sustainable production and consumptionmaking the connection. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2007, 15(6): 489-606.

[15] Mathieu V.. Service strategies within the manufacturing sector: benefits, costs and partnership. Intermational Journal of Service Industry Management, 2001, 12(5): 451-475.

[16] Morelli N.. Product-service systems, a perspective shift for designers: a case study: the design of a telecentre. Design Studies, 2003, 24(1): 73-99.

[17] Oliva R., Kallenberg R.. Managing the transition from products to services. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 2003, 14(2): 160-172.

[18] Ölundh, G. (2003). Environmental and Developmental Perspectives of Functional Sales. Department of Machine Design, Stockholm, Royal Institute of Technology

[19] Ölundh, G. & Ritzén, S. (2003). How do functional sales affect product development and environmental performance? In: International Conference on Engineering Design, CD ROM

[20] Ölundh, G. & Ritzén, S. (2002). Funktionsförsäljning och produkters miljöaspekter-en studie i tre svenska tillverkningsföretag. Naturvårdsverket, 40, in Swedish

[21] Sakao, T., Sandström, G.Ö. & Matzen, D. (2008). Framing design research for service orientation through PSS approaches. Journal of Engineering Design, to appear

[22] Sakao T., Shimomura Y.. Service engineering: a novel engineering discipline for producers to increase value combining service and product. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2007, 15(6): 590-604.

[23] Shostack G.L.. Designing services that deliver. Harvard Business Review, 1984, 62: 133-139.

[24] Sundin E.. Takata S., Umeda Y.. Design for integrated product-service offerings-a case study of soil compactors. Advances in Life Cycle Engineering for Sustainable Manufacturing Businesses, 2007, London: Springer 149-154.

[25] Sundin E., Bras B.. Making functional sales environmentally and economically beneficial through product remanufacturing. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2005, 13(9): 913-925.

[26] Sundin, E., Larsson, M. & Nielsen, A. (2005)a. Design for functional sales at BT industries. In: 5th International Symposium of Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing, CD-ROM

[27] Sundin, E., Lindahl, M., Shimomura, Y. & Sakao, T. (2005)b. New engineering design for functional sales business. In: 15th International Conference on Engineering Design, CD-ROM

[28] Tien J.M., Berg D.. A case for service systems engineering. Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering, 2003, 12(1): 13-38.

[29] Tukker A., Tischner U.. New Business for Old Europe, 2006, Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing

[30] Vargo S.L., Lusch R.F.. Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 2004, 68(1): 1-17.