Title: Customer care excellence in the new product development process: a case study

Authors: Ville Isoherranen; Jukka Majava

Addresses: Kerttu Saalasti Institute, University of Oulu, FI-85500, Finland ' Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, FI-90014, Finland

Abstract: Excellence in product development can be achieved by integrating various stakeholders' requirements into a winning offering. After-market services have become increasingly important for companies, as digitalisation enables new business models and revenue streams. The integration of customer care must be performed in the product development (PD) process in the early concepting and development phases in order to ensure an excellent customer experience. The traditional elements of care - spare parts, service tools, and support - must be coupled with new services. Future cutting-edge products demand new self-support, repair, and upgrade capabilities that are enabled by the digitalisation of product-service assets and low-cost distribution platforms. This study aims to increase knowledge on how care capabilities can be created in the PD by analysing the critical care inputs and their effects in the product concepting phase. In addition, the critical care outputs in the case company's product development process in the main phases are presented.

Keywords: customer care; design for care; DfC; design for excellence; DfX; digitalisation; new product development; NPD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2018.091100

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2018 Vol.9 No.1, pp.26 - 37

Received: 20 Jan 2017
Accepted: 19 Jun 2017
Published online: 10 Apr 2018 *

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