Transformation methodology from product oriented offer to product-service system (PSS)

Abstract

Developing and offering Product-service systems (PSS) represent an innovation with new opportunities for traditional product-based companies. PSS has the potential of changing consumption and production standards towards a more sustainable society. Offering PSS instead of pure products demands changes in a company's business model. The business focus based on selling physical products and transferring property is substituted by selling function or utility. Some companies intend to associate existing product to new services or even stop selling their products and offering only their use. In that case, the creation of a new business model is not trivial and sometimes product features must be changed in order to use it as a PSS. The traditional business model vision comprises a superficial description of the business. Indeed a business model is only fully completed at the final phases of a PSS development. Therefore, the objective of this research project is to develop a methodology to support companies on transforming the existing product offer into PSS offer. The methods proposed in this research project aim to detail the following: as-is situation analysis; strategic definition; value proposition; business model definition; investment analysis; business process architecture definition and roadmap planning for PSS implementation. These methods will be proposed based on deductive processes based on the literature review and case studies. The core of this project includes the extended application of the proposed methodology in order to improve, verify and validate it by means of workshops and action-research. The methodology application will support the integrated use of the developed methods. The workshops will be held in an environment created with the funds of this project in the ideation laboratory at the Advanced Manufacturing Nucleus of the Production Engineering Department of EESC USP. Companies interested in this project will be able join the workshops. Depending on the case, the workshop could be carried out at the interested company. Additionally, the development of a portal is planned, which will support the collaborative development of this methodology and the dissemination of additional information, such as publications, case descriptions, websites, videos, online courses, and so on. Thus, companies willing to transform their actual product offer into PSS could learn, download free material and apply the methodology proposed in this project. (AU)