Title: Towards availability and sustainability in customer value assessment of asset management services

Authors: Ville Ojanen; Toni Ahonen; Markku Reunanen; Jyri Hanski

Addresses: Department of Industrial Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, PO Box 20, FI-53851, Lappeenranta, Finland. ' VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1300, FI-33101, Tampere, Finland. ' VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1300, FI-33101, Tampere, Finland. ' VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1300, FI-33101, Tampere, Finland

Abstract: Purchasing a solution is an asset management option for a customer of industrial maintenance solution providers. It needs to be justified, e.g. by achieving energy savings or increasing the availability of a production system. Therefore, the value elements of such solutions should be identified and quantified wherever possible. Although research on customer value in product, service and solution management has clearly increased in recent years, a common understanding of comprehensive value assessment in industrial service management is as yet incomplete. In our paper, we present an integrated methodology for assessing the value of asset management services. The approach combines a qualitative service-oriented Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method with a quantitative method for assessing the customer value including availability and economic sustainability elements. The utilisation of the approach is illustrated by means of a real-world case study of a value-based assessment and development of the service portfolio of an industrial solution provider.

Keywords: asset management services; solution management; industrial services; service development; maintenance solutions; customer value; value assessment; availability; economic sustainability; QFD; quality function deployment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2012.050866

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2012 Vol.6 No.4, pp.368 - 391

Received: 30 Dec 2011
Accepted: 05 Jul 2012

Published online: 31 Oct 2014 *

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