Types and Models of Product-Service System in Design Agencies

Product-service system design(PSSD)plays a significant role in both design theory and practice with increasing importance.Although scholars have made significant efforts to delineate its definition,methods,and applications,misunderstandings about PSSD persist widely across design agencies and academia.This study aims to outline the various types and models of product-service systems(PSSs)based on inputs from product design agencies.To achieve this purpose,this study applies a two-step research method,comprising a Q-sorting procedure followed by hypothesis testing.This allows us to study the business scope and design model of each design agency from a field research perspective.We propose a design framework with four basic types of PSSs,11 extended types of PSSs,and 4P-8D PSSD models.The current study has theoretical and practical implications.For academics,our models are clearly classified and validated.For practitioners,our models of PSSs can support design agencies in clearly recognizing their position within the design industry,allowing them to select the appropriate types and models to facilitate their future development.Our study also provides helpful guidances for college graduates,cutting-edge designers,and new design studios.

Fuzzy-TOPSIS Evaluation of Power Product-Service System:A Framework Driven by Big Data

Power product-service system(power PSS),which combines industrial electric products with electric energy services,is an effective solution for power enterprises under the background of the rapid development of power systems.In the life cycle of power PSS,evaluation decision of power PSS alternatives is of great significance for subsequent implementation.To address the power PSS alternative evaluation problem,a power PSS evaluation framework is explored driven by the big data of stakeholder comments.Based on the multi-stakeholder comments of power PSS evaluation decision’s influence factors,the index system is constructed through analyzing and summarizing the co-occurrence matrix and semantic network diagram of high-frequency words.To determine the fuzzy index value of power PSS alternative,the stakeholders’vague opinions expressed by trapezoidal fuzzy number are integrated by group decision method.Fuzzy concept is introduced into the classical Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution(TOPSIS)method and fuzzy-TOPSIS method is put forward by using the fuzzy index value.The improved TOPSIS is adopted to sequence the power PSS alternatives.The case of power PSS evaluation of six alternatives for a power enterprise shows that the explored framework is effective and can provide a feasible solution for power PSS alternative evaluation.

HOW ARE PRODUCT-SERVICE COMBINED OFFERS PROVIDED IN GERMANY AND ITALY?ANALYSIS WITH COMPANY SIZES AND COUNTRIES

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.

Review of Key Technologies for Developing Personalized Lower Limb Rehabilitative Exoskeleton Robots

Rehabilitative training and assistance to daily living activities play critical roles in improving the life quality of lower limb dyskinesia patients and older people with motor function degeneration.Lower limb reha-bilitative exoskeleton has a promising application prospect in support of the above population.In this paper,critical technologies for developing lower limb rehabilitative exoskeleton for individualized user needs are identi-fied and reviewed,including exoskeleton hardware modularization,bionic compliant driving,individualized gait planning and individual-oriented motion intention recognition.Inspired by the idea of servitization,potentials in exoskeleton product-service system design and its enabling technologies are then discussed.It is suggested that future research will focus on exoskeleton technology and exoskeleton-based service development oriented to an individual's physical features and personalized requirements to realize better human-exoskeleton coordination in terms of technology,as well as accessible and high-quality rehabilitation and living assistance in terms of utility.

Bridging reliability and operations management for superior system availability:Challenges and opportunities

Recently,firms have begun to handle the design,manufacturing,and maintenance of capital goods through a consolidated mechanism called the integrated product-service system.This new paradigm enables firms to deliver high-reliability products while lowering the ownership cost.Hence,holistic optimization models must be proposed for jointly allocating reliability,maintenance,and spare parts inventory across the entire value chain.In the existing literature,these decisions are often made fragmentally,thus resulting in local optimality.This study reviews the extant works pertaining to reliability-redundancy allocation,preventative maintenance,and spare parts logistics models.We discuss the challenges and opportunities of consolidating these decisions under an integrated reliability-maintenance-inventory framework for attaining superior system availability.Specific interest is focused on the new product introduction phase in which firms face a variety of uncertainties,including installed base,usage,reliability,and trade policy.The goal is to call for tackling the integrated reliability-maintenance-inventory allocation model under a nonstationary operating condition.Finally,we place the integrated allocation model in the semiconductor equipment industry and show how the firm deploys reliability initiatives and after-sale support logistics to ensure the fleet uptime for its global customers.

Service-oriented manufacturing:A literature review and future research directions

This study presents a systematic review of the literature on service-oriented manufacturing(SOM).Specifically,we focus on the impact of SOM on firm operating decisions,which distinguishes this work from previous reviews.This study proposes a classification framework for SOM research based on product flow,from its design to its final disposal.Although SOM has been studied for many years,most related research remains conceptual.Our criterion for choosing papers is that they must be relevant to practical problems.This review aims to provide readers a guide that will facilitate their search for papers in their field of interest.More importantly,we hope that this review can provide insightful managerial implications for SOM.