Refine
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (9)
- Part of a Book (2)
- Contribution to a Periodical (2)
- Lecture (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (14)
Keywords
Institute
Method for a qualitative cost benefit evaluation of process standardisation for industrial services
(2018)
Industrial service providers deliver complex technical services (e.g. inspection, maintenance, repair, improvement, installation and turnarounds) for a wide range of technical assets in process industries such as the chemical industry. Due to the versatility of assets and industries, there is also a variety of the corresponding service offerings. The demand for a high service quality and the general cost pressure leads to the need of a more efficient and standardized design of the service processes. However, cost-benefit ratio related decisions regarding the questions where and how service processes should be standardized entail great challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises. This is because there is often a lack of understanding of cost savings through process standardization, which is caused by a lack of understanding of the correlations between process characteristics and process target values. Because of this, the goal of this paper is to develop a method for a quantitative evaluation of the cost-benefit ratio of process standardization measures. Within this method, the relevant service performance processes are selected first. Next, the process data will be recorded with the help of questionnaires. These are then analyzed by looking for correlations between the process characteristics and the process target values. Afterwards standardization measures are derived on the basis of these findings in order to improve deficit characteristics and thus target values. Finally, the method´s practical applicability is tested and validated by applying it to an industrial service in the chemical industry.
Smart Service Engineering
(2018)
Global manufacturing companies currently face an increasingly turbulent economic environment known as the "VUCA-world" (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). After the transformation of many companies from product to solution providers in the last 15-20 years, the focus of many corporate change processes is on digital solutions such as data-driven services. In this context, service development is of particular relevance for industrial services. Companies develop digital strategies and try to maximize the added value for their customers, by offering, for example, smart services. They are based on smart products, which are connected to the internet, interact with their environment and gather environmental data. The collected data sets are combined with other easily accessible information and processed into so-called smart data. Based on this smart data, smart services are designed. They can be defined as individualized combinations of physical and digital services. They generate added value for providers and customers and offer context-related and demand-oriented value via digital platforms. The contribution of this paper to this research field of data-driven services is a service engineering approach for industrial smart services.
Since the 1990s, service engineering has established itself as a systematic process for the development of services. Currently existing service engineering processes are based on engineering science and business model innovation toolsets. However, the increasing digital components in service engineering reveal deficits in the direct application of the classical methods of service engineering to smart services. We suggest that the successful development and implementation of smart services requires a more agile service engineering process. Studies show that companies who develop services successfully (top-performer) act up to six times faster than those with less success (follower). They involve customers in the first running prototype of their digital service to increase customer centricity and focus their development activities on core functionalities of the service to reduce its development time and test it early with customers.
To strengthen the successful development pf data-driven services in future industrial service development projects, this paper contributes to a more agile service engineering approach. Smart service engineering combines elements of linear phase models and implements agile and customer-centric findings to decrease the overall development time by focussing on core functionalities that offer a high value for customers. The paper focuses on the service development steps and presents strategic scenarios for smart service engineering. It presents the interaction and interconnection of different elements of smart services based on a case study research. In addition to this, it illustrates the implications of a customer-centric engineering approach and possible strategic decisions based on the customer feedback. The paper focuses on the successful application of the smart service engineering approach and its impact in a German medium-size company in the textile machine industry.
Industrial Smart Services - Types of Smart Service Business Models in the Digitalized Agriculture
(2018)
Due to lack of experience of companies with digital business models, agricultural machinery manufacturers and agricultural service companies are facing a positioning problem in their ecosystem. Smart services are getting more important for these companies and they have issues to define a matching business model for their newly developed smart services. The lack of a framework for smart service business models makes it even harder for companies to successfully develop new services.
This paper contributes to a better understanding of business models for smart services and establishes a common morphological framework to define different types of business models for smart services. Six types of business models of industrial smart services were identified during the research based, which was based on a literature review and interviews with leading experts in the field of smart services. The validation of the developed types and its practical application was carried out as part of the German research project Smart-Farming-World and its four developed use cases. This paper gives a detailed description of the application of the framework on the use case nPotato.
Many industrial companies face their digital transformation. In addition to an existing portfolio of products and services, new digital services are being developed to offer a portfolio of smart product service systems (Smart PSS). While the development of new digital services is rarely a problem for the companies, the organization of sales and distribution of Smart PSS in particular is a key issue. The sales of Smart PSS differs considerably from the sales of only products or services and must therefore be designed differently in order to meet customer requirements and successfully commercialize the developed Smart PSS. This paper therefore describes how the sales organization of Smart PSS should be designed successfully in various forms. The network thinking methodology is used in combination with a case study research approach to describe the connection between the offered portfolio, the customer requirements and the different elements of a sales organization. Furthermore, four different types of a sales organization for Smart PSS are described. This paper gives a recommendation for companies on a design of their sales organizations on which practical implications may be developed.