Title: An effective and efficient method to design services: empirical study for services by an investment-machine manufacturer

Authors: Tomohiko Sakao, Herbert Birkhofer, Veselin Panshef, Edgar Dorsam

Addresses: Institute for Product Development and Machine Elements, Darmstadt University of Technology, Magdalenenstrasse 4, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany; Department of Management and Engineering, Linkoping University, 581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. ' Institute for Product Development and Machine Elements, Darmstadt University of Technology, Magdalenenstrasse 4, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany. ' Institute for Printing Machines and Printing Processes, Darmstadt University of Technology, Magdalenenstrasse 2, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany. ' Institute for Printing Machines and Printing Processes, Darmstadt University of Technology, Magdalenenstrasse 2, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract: Knowledge in practice on how to design offerings of services and products effectively and efficiently is demanded in manufacturing industries. This article discusses some empirical results obtained from designing services at a manufacturer, who had implemented information-communication networks to their customers and adopted a structured method to design services. It demonstrates that the method worked for a real-scaled problem to generate several effective solutions with input of approximately five person-months. This is contributed largely by the technique addressing customer value through extension of quality function deployment. Simultaneously, it is pointed out that special efforts are needed to prepare the ontology used to describe the model.

Keywords: servicification; manufacturing; customer value; remote services; service design; empirical study; investment machines; service activity; physical products; product-service systems; integrated product service engineering; quality function deployment; QFD; Service Explorer; product integration; service integration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMS.2009.031342

International Journal of Internet Manufacturing and Services, 2009 Vol.2 No.1, pp.95 - 110

Published online: 31 Jan 2010 *

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