The increasing digitalization of manufacturing is transforming product development towards intelligent, service-oriented systems. This study explores the application of Digital Twins (DT) technology in smart Product Service System (sPSS) design, proposing a framework of Super-System Digital Twin (SSDT) and eXtended Reality (XR) for supporting design. The SSDT integrates service offerings, user scenarios, and product features throughout the design process. Case is applied to the conceptual design of a Smart Electric Tourist Bus in collaboration with aglobal manufacturer, the framework utilizes eXtended Reality (XR) environment to enhance decision-making and prototyping. This research validates SSDT’s role in fostering participatory design and collaborative innovation, while addressing its limitations and proposing future improvements.

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.