Coordinator
Prof. Dr. Horst Meier
Produktionssysteme
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Phone: 0234/32-26308
E-Mail: meier@lps.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Funded since 2006
Link
Having the customer in mind
Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 29: Industrial product service systems – Dynamic interdependency of products and services in the production area
With the delivery of a machine the manufacturer usually has done his part: how it actually works, how it is possible to provide its continuous availability and that somebody is needed to operate and maintain it – these are later considerations. With this policy German manufacturers lose the decisive competitive advantage they have in terms of technology: if the customer is not able to tap the full potential of the technological advantages, then simpler machines from low-wage countries are more economical.
Comprehensive offers, which comprise not only the product, but also additional value through complementary services, are developed by the researchers of SFB/TR 29. Elements of the offers are, e.g. product-integrating trainings, preventive and corrective maintenance or process optimisation. When starting designing a new product engineers have to anticipate contingencies in the life-cycle of a machine. This could mean that the machine automatically takes care of organising the best possible for its maintenance, when necessary.
These business models of industrial product service systems consisting of products and services can have various forms. Thus it is possible that instead of a machine, the availability of the machine is sold. In this case the manufacturer is responsible for the availability of the machine for the agreed useful life and that it, for example, works 96% of the time. The company is only paid for the machine‘s operational reliability. It is only possible to market these innovative business models competitively by offering efficient integrated services as product service systems.
