When bus manufacturing companies move forward in their serviti- zation journey for providing service solutions for tourism industry, there is an increasing need to exploit the prototype way to support the realization of design solutions in the early stages of the Product Service System (PSS) design. Digital twin, a new emerging and fast growing technology which connects the physical and virtual world, has attracted much attention worldwide recently. This paper presents a new method for PSS design based on the digital twin approach. The development of product design is briefly introduced first. The framework of digital twin approach is then proposed and analysed. The main work in this research work is how to trade off the ‘realism’ of the design output of the virtual concept. A case is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed DT approach for prod- uct prototyping. Verification activities performed the case in a virtual simulation environment prototype the design concepts in the tourism industry.

The Product-Service Systems (PSS) methodology faces new challenges as digital servitisation drives product-oriented companies to integrate digital services into their offerings. A value co-creation strategy and global collaborative innovation are now essential for these companies to develop smart PSS models. This study introduces the Future Innovation Framework (FIF) which is proposed as a mechanism to facilitate value cocreation in smart PSS design, specifically tailored for global manufacturing contexts. Through qualitative analysis and literature review, the research investigates collaboration among key stakeholders, defines a structured smart PSS design process, and demonstrates how value co-creation can enhance design outcomes. The proposed FIF framework, applied to a Smart Electric Vehicle (SEV) case with Volkswagen, supports early-stage collaborative innovation and informed decision-making. This paper discusses the practical implications, challenges, and future opportunities of implementing FIF in industrial smart PSS design. Finally, the potential for adapting FIF across various industry sectors is explored.

This research investigates globally dispersed innovation teams involved in explorative projects within an engineering graduate course employing problem-based learning. Utilizing insights from a longitudinal study, the objective is to identify how to enhance both individual learning and team performance, thereby increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome. Initial observations revealed common patterns in learning experiences among the top-performing teams, prompting further investigation into how supporting cohorts might positively influence both team performance and students’ learning experiences throughout the course. In addition to advancing comprehension of innovation team performance, the study introduces two lightweight tools designed as shared visual representations of the team’s exploration journey. These tools can assist supporting cohorts in guiding teams effectively. This research augments the existing body of knowledge surrounding the achievement of breakthrough innovations. It provides understanding about how to facilitate team performance and individual learning within globally dispersed innovation teams undertaking explorative projects. The proposed lightweight tools offer practical solutions to enhance the supporting cohort’s ability to guide and impact team performance and individual learning experiences. This study holds implications for academia and industry, particularly organizations reliant on radical innovation for competitiveness and future-proving. Lastly, the study’s findings could inform the design and delivery of future problem-oriented, project-organized learning-based courses in engineering education.

Manufacturing companies are increasingly transitioning from a product-centric to a smart Product Service System (smart PSS) approach to enhance customer satisfaction, service offerings, and product competitiveness through a combination of usage scenarios and digital components. In the context of Industry 5.0 transformation such as developing the Smart Electric Vehicle (SEV), the automotive industry faces the challenge of understanding customers’ descriptions of usage scenarios and translating the qualitative aspects of these scenarios into quantitatively assessed product features for collaborative value co-creation in smart PSS design. This paper addresses this challenge through utilizing Natural Language Processing (NLP) joint with Value-Driven Design (VDD) method for successfully supported a collaborative value exploration of in the smart PSS design stage. A case study was collaborated with a global automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Volkswagen, through proposing a NLP BERT model for VDD of Smart Electric Vehicle (SEV) design. Validation activities were performed by deploying the developed BERT model to the case company based on the scenario design of new car models.

As manufacturing firms move from pure product-based business models toward Product-Service Systems offerings, value creation becomes more complex and requires more active cross-disciplinary collaboration. Especially non-functional values, those connected to the overall PSS behavior, depend on the successful alignment and coordination between perspectives. However, understanding the value creation itself, particularly among different departments or stakeholders, can be challenging. This paper conceptualizes a value model and a method based on Group Model Building to support value exploration of non-functional design objectives in early-stage Product-Service System design. The value model is constructed based on three layers of granularity to visualize how value is created holistically. Further, the proposed method allows participants to jointly explore and identify design objectives and put these in the context of value. The method and model were tested at two companies, showing that the proposed method and model successfully supported a collaborative value exploration in the non-functional domain. © 2023, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

During the last decade, manufacturing companies have experienced an increased demand for solutions that promote socio-ecological sustainability. To succeed in the sustainability transformation, companies need to systematically and strategically implement sustainability performance in their product portfolios. Many companies decide which services, products, and technologies to include in their product portfolios using evaluation criteria related to, for example, cost, quality, risk, revenue, time, and market position. However, often, sustainability aspects are not integrated into such criteria. Incorporating sustainability aspects in the portfolio evaluation criteria could ensure the development of sustainability-promoting solutions. This should be done in the early stages of the product development process, where there is more room for innovation than later in the process. 

The aim of this research is to provide a better understanding of how sustainability performance can be implemented in the product portfolio process of manufacturing companies and thereby support the companies’ sustainability transformation. The research has focused on: 1) how to define the concept of sustainability product portfolios based on the state of the art and the state of practice, 2) determining the current situation in industry related to implementation of sustainability performance in product portfolios, 3) identifying the most used criteria and tools for product portfolio evaluation, and 4) determining how product portfolios are planned, implemented and managed. 

Literature reviews, interviews and workshops were used to collect data from seven large manufacturing companies located in Sweden, one small company located in Colombia, and several research groups and master level student groups. The collected data from industrial cases was organized, processed, analyzed, and verified to provide academic and industry background, to guide the implementation of sustainability performance in the product portfolio

The results from the studies provided a basis for creating guidance in developing a sustainability product portfolio in a company. The guidance includes: i) a definition of the sustainability product portfolio concept; ii) a list of common product portfolio evaluation criteria to be used for a  selection of  portfolio components; iii) key factors to succeed with the integration of sustainability aspects in portfolio development and to implement sustainability performance in the product portfolio; iv) an initial conceptualization model to support the sustainability implementation process in product portfolios; and, v) a digitalized and game-based prototype of the strategic layered double-flow scenario modeling for sustainability risk and portfolio management (STARDUST) method, to guide companies in the implementation of sustainability in their product portfolio. 

With the outcome of this research, practitioners can be supported in their decision-making, especially in the planning stages, with a strategic sustainability perspective to identify sustainability hotspots. Moreover, evaluate portfolio components with a sustainability-informed market-success perspective, compare solutions, and identify benefits and risk that might modify the product portfolio over time.  

The aim of this research is to explore if and how digitalization and a game-based approach can improve the usability and implementation of sustainable design methods and tools in a product development process. Based on semi-systematic literature review, advantages and limitations of digitalization and game-based approaches in this context were identified. A previously developed method that guides the implementation of a strategic sustainability perspective in product portfolio development, was then selected and elements of digitalization and game-based approaches were incorporated in its four building blocks: double-flow scenario modeling, sustainability assessment, market success assessment, and portfolio development. The resulting prototype of this method was further adapted after feedback gathered through expert interviews and then tested in workshops with industry and academia. It was found that digitalization was especially useful for the scenario simulation, data management, and automatic visualization of results, while the benefits of the game-based approach were enhanced motivation, collaboration, and co-design of results and solutions. At the same time, drawbacks were discovered, for example related to decreased transparency of how results are calculated, overuse of visualization and extrinsic rewards, leading to lack of clarity and trust in the results. In conclusion, there are synergies between digitalization and game-based approaches that can improve the usability of sustainable design methods and tools, but extensive testing is recommended to avoid pitfalls that can lead to opposite effects. Moreover, recommendations were identified for how to include digitalization and a game-based approach, for example, to enable integration with other tools, maintenance and constant update, to explore the benefits of team-based assessments and collaboration, to add diversity and customization, and to link the game to the user's context, application, expectations and requirements.

This thesis discusses how large manufacturing incumbent companies potentially can ensure their longevity and future-proof themselves by infusing ambidexterity throughout their organizations. Ambidextrous companies are equipped to achieve success in both current and future business environments, providing valued solutions to customers today and in the future. While these companies often excel at making incremental improvements to existing products, business, and operational models, they lack the skill set necessary for exploring new ways of creating value for customers, and commonly fail to bring promising breakthrough innovations from proven concept to revenue generation. 

To address these challenges, this thesis proposes a methodology consisting of four foundational principles for strengthening the innovation capacity of large manufacturing incumbents. The term "innovation engineering" is introduced and described to distinctly differentiate exploration-oriented work from exploitation-oriented work and demystify the exploration process and skills. The thesis also presents the concept of "intentional PSS design" as an approach to incorporate future aspirations and current capabilities into an evolutionary design process, connecting current limitations with future anticipated possibilities.

The thesis proposes tools for leaders and coaches to support innovation engineering teams in their exploration journeys and bridge the gap between exploration and exploitation. The overall aim of the research is to future-proof large manufacturing incumbents by providing understanding about common challenges and possibilities, a framework for strengthened innovation capacity, incorporating the innovation engineering skills as core competencies, and the innovation engineering process as equally important to and diametrically different from the exploitation process.

The research aims to increase awareness and knowledge about innovation engineering and enable infused ambidexterity so that large manufacturing incumbents can find their ways to adapt to a changing environment and reinvention of their ways to meet customer needs. The thesis also proposes ways to bridge between exploration and exploitation to enable a company-wide transition from a product-selling to problem-solving enterprise. By doing so, large manufacturing companies might prolong their lifespan and contribute solving 

Denna avhandling diskuterar hur stora, marknadsledande tillverkningsföretag kan framtidsäkras genom att ”tvåhänthet”, eller ”ambidextri”, och ett både-och ledarskap genomsyrar hela organisationen. I en snabbt föränderlig värld måste företag vara skickliga på både inkrementell och radikal innovation. Trots att många stora, marknadsledande tillverkningsföretag har effektiva och sedan länge etablerade arbetssätt för kontinuerlig utveckling och inkrementell innovation, saknar de ofta förmågan att utforska och implementera nya sätt att skapa värde, vilket kan resultera i förlorade möjligheter till marknadsfördelar då lovande radikala innovationer inte når marknaden med betalande kunder. För att tackla dessa utmaningar föreslås i denna avhandling ett angreppssätt bestående av fyra grundläggande principer för att stärka företagens innovationsförmåga. Begreppet innovationsteknik nyttjas för att tydligt skilja på utforskande arbetssätt för radikal innovation och det inkrementella. Med innovationsteknik avses i detta arbete både kompetens och process och förståelsen för detta bidrar till att avmystifiera det utforskande arbetet för att skapa radikal innovation. « Intentional PSS design » presenteras som ett angreppssätt för att koppla ihop existerande kunderbjudanden med framtida ambitioner i en evolutionär designprocess som tar hänsyn till dagens och framtidens möjligheter, begränsningar och intentioner. Avhandlingen föreslår verktyg för att guida innovationsteam i deras utforskande resor; verktyg som också kan hjälpa till att överbrygga gapet mellan arbetssätt och förmågor för radikal och inkrementell innovation. I denna avhandling får du som läsare en djupare förståelse för potentialen hos innovationsteknik och en organisatorisk tvåbenthet som genomsyrar hela organisationen. Förhoppningen är att stora tillverkningsföretag kan nytttja denna förståelse för att anpassa verksamheten till en föränderlig värld och ta sig an nya, mer systemorienterade sätt att möta kunders behov och skifta organisationens förhållningssätt från produkt till produkt-tjänste-system-lösningar (PSS). Då kan dessa företag bidra till att lösa dagens och framtidens komplexa samhällsutmaningar.  

Injection-molded polyethylene plates exhibit highly anisotropic mechanical behavior due to, e.g., the uneven orientation of the polymer chains during the molding process and the differential cooling, especially in the thickness direction. Elastoplastic finite element modeling of these plates in particular is used with isotropic yield criteria like von Mises, trading off accuracy in favor of simpler constitutive characterization and faster solution. This article studies three different anisotropic yield criteria, namely, Hill 1948, Barlat Yld91, and Barlat Yld2004-18P, for the finite element modeling of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) at large uniaxial tensile deformation and compares the accuracy and computation time with von Mises. A simplified calibration technique is investigated to identify the constitutive parameters of the studied Barlat group yield criteria. The calibration process is simplified in the sense that only uniaxial tensile tests with digital image correlation measurements are used for the calibration of all the yield criteria studied in this article, although a standard calibration procedure for the Barlat group yield criteria requires additional material testing using more demanding test setups. It is concluded that both Barlat Yld91 and Barlat Yld2004-18P yield criteria can be calibrated with only a few tensile tests and still capture anisotropy in deformation–stress–strain at different levels of accuracy. © 2023 by the authors.

The metaverse, which is often described as featuring a range of technologies for Extended Reality (XR) to consume and digest information from large and complex Digital Twins (DTs), is often discussed as one of the pillars of Industry 5.0 transformation. Immersive computer-generated environments based on DT and XR are highlighted as cornerstone technologies for the future of product and system design. While they are expected to become a commodity in the engineering toolbox in the next 20 years, little is known about how to set up and implement such environments to maximize innovation and collaboration capabilities in design. This article discusses the high-level gaps that remain before the vision of the metaverse in design is realized. It further draws a roadmap, based on four major tracks, that pinpoints research areas, methodological approaches and capabilities needed to develop and realise digital immersive experiences for collaborative value co-creation in design.