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.  

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.

The design of a circular PSS solution goes beyond the traditional perspective of circular product design encompassing multiple complexity dimensions that need to be considered and addressed in the early stages of design. The paper provides a literature-based outlook on the levels of complexity to be faced when making decisions in early PSS design by positioning the concept of changeability inherited from the systems engineering literature into the context of the design of circular PSS. The paper ultimately stresses the need to consider the changeability of PSS as a relevant dimension in the assessment of its circularity potential. It does so by proposing a framework for the design of circular PSS solutions, summarizing the main design strategies and approaches currently described in the literature to mitigate the uncertainties generated by PSS complexity.

When construction companies move forward in their servitization journey, there is an increasing need to exploit digital tools and models to facilitate the complex and dynamic interactions between entrepreneurs, customers, equipment manufacturers, energy providers and more during the early stages of the construction project design. This paper presents the application Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications to create distributed ‘experience environments’ for value co-creation in the road construction industry, where to foster participation of all the stakeholders in the needs identification process and the trade-off of the value drivers of the project. After presenting the modelling approach pursued in the work, the lessons learned gathered from preliminary verification activities are presented, pointing to future work in the field.

The emergence of IoT has propelled the traditionally known Product-Service System (PSS) to be characterized by smarter technologies, enabling them to collect and process data from the operational stage and facilitate communication between the customer and the provider. Commonly referred to as Smart Product-Service Systems (Smart PSS), these systems promise to create value at a personal level by collecting and effectively utilizing the operational data. However, one of the fundamental challenges is the lack of awareness as to what kind of data can be collected from the operational stage and what can be achieved from this data. This paper systematically reviews scientific literature to underline the kind of data being collected from the operational stage, the purposes being achieved from that data, and how they lead to value creation. The systematic review of 60 representative studies enabled the definition of the operational scenario that comprises 4 dimensions of data and 10 classes of data within these dimensions to generically identify what kind of data is being collected. The intend presented by various authors led to the generalization of 5 themes that target different purposes of collecting data. Further, the papers were classified with regards to functional or non-functional requirements to see how data in different approaches are leveraged for value creation. Finally, the discussion highlights the current gaps in the literature and raises several opportunities for future contributions.

Digital Twins (DT) are of particular interest in the domain of Product-Service Systems (PSS), to predict hardware availability, to inform about the needed features of new solutions, and to forecast the expected performances of new configurations in operation. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the extent to which ‘twins’ are applied today across the PSS life cycle, and to spotlight the ability of DT-related case studies to capture a full value perspective vs. simply attempting to represent hardware and services in the digital realm. By means of a systematic literature review combined with a mapping study, the paper reveals how only a minimal part of the existing literature is able to demonstrate how real-time physical-to-virtual and virtual-to-physical connections can be used to improve the design of servitized solutions. The analysis shows how contributions in the topic are mostly proposing frameworks and methods, as opposed to models and tools, as well as how ‘evaluation’, ‘validation’ tasks are largely neglected. As a result, the paper proposes a specialized definition of the PSS DT, together with a set of research questions that need to be answered to empower the engineering teams with relevant DT for PSS design.

When a Product-Service System (PSS) has a longer lifecycle, it is subjected to several internal and external changes along its path that may deteriorate its value. A PSS capable of delivering value despite the circumstances is called a value robust PSS, and one way of achieving value robustness is by incorporating changeability. A lot of uncertainties prevail in decision-making concerning changeability as change is a phenomenon not clearly understood in PSS design. To bridge this gap, this paper presents a reference framework to support the definition and quantification of changeability in PSS design to enable the delivery of a value robust PSS. The paper is mainly focused mainly on the realization of the concept of changeability in PSS design, crossing the boundary between rich literature in the field of PSS and Systems Engineering.