Product Service Systems
Overview
In the past 30 years the UK manufacturing sector has contracted significantly. This has seen a reduction in employment by over half and a reduction in the contribution of the sector to UK GDP by a similar amount. Much of this contraction can be attributed to a shift in production to low-cost economies as product and process-based competences are easily transferred or copied by competitors.
As a response to the changing manufacturing landscape some companies are adopting a strategy of servitization. Servitization is where products and services are integrated into an offering that is provided to a user over a period of time. An example of such an integrated offering is Xerox’s document management services where uses pay per print with Xerox working behind the scenes to ensure that copiers and printers are available. By adopting a strategy of servitization manufacturers lock customers in to a longer arrangement reducing opportunities for competitors. Also, as services are more valuable and require the provider to directly interact with the user, servitization can lead to higher revenues and greater customer insight leading to further business opportunities.
Cranfield’s servitization theme comprises projects that are researching:
- The customer value provided by integrated offerings
- The design of integrated offerings
- The organisation of internal operations for servitization
- IMRC PSS ‘Operations’ Review (IMRC Ops/Jan ‘11)
- The structure and relationships within external networks that provide and support integrated offerings
- The changes in firm culture required to adopt servitization
- Whole life cycle cost modelling for product service systems
- Capability based PSS conceptual design
In addition to this there are a number of projects that are researching the role that technology plays in supporting servitization. This research is being conducted by academics from three of Cranfield’s Schools – School of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering and School of Management. All of the projects within the servitization theme have academics from at least two schools – fostering pan-university collaboration.
Or work in servitization is both rigorous and relevant. We are conducting our research in world-class organizations such as: Rolls-Royce, Alstom, Babcock, Cisco, Xerox, MAN Trucks, Airbus, GKN and Bombardier. We are also working with universities from around the world including Arizona State University, Alto University, Bochum University and the Fraunhofer Institute. Our ongoing research has resulted in over 15 published journal articles and 50 conference papers to date and is further impacting practice by feeding MSc, MBA and executive teaching.
