Product-service system methodologies in research and industry

Industrial Product-Service Systems (PSS, IPS2) is a concept predominantly used in academia but widely unknown in industry. Nevertheless, solutions integrating products and services are attracting attention. Many industrial equipment manufacturers consider themselves as solution providers which essentially are offering solutions including products and services. Customers increasingly demand for added value and competence rather than just for products or services. Innovative solutions in logistics and information technologies became enablers for broad service deployment. For instance call-centre services became outsourced by American firms to Indian subsidiaries which provide their services to American customers. Research is active in the PSS area since years and many achievements were mad e. Nevertheless, many issues still remain unsolved. Four different types of product-service set-ups are discussed within the contribution to elaborate on solution needs for a future, robust industrial product-service systems development. The four types are transport and energy systems, engineering service provision, test operation service provision and PLM solutions. The discussion shows how development methodologies are affected by the broad bandwidth of services in engineering. The contribution closes by mapping own approaches against identified solution needs whereat a classical engineering development process model is used to show needs and opportunities for changes