Research on industrial product–service configuration driven by value demands based on ontology modeling

• Value attributes of product–service are defined based on the analysis of customer demands.
• Demand cluster method is proposed to identify value demands of customers.
• The modular system of product–service is established.
• The product–service configuration method based on ontology modeling is put forward.
• A case study is presented to verify the proposed approach.

It has become an important trend in the manufacturing industry that service is used to enhance the competitiveness of businesses as well as an important source of values. Aiming to extend the achievements of product configuration in manufacturing industry to service industry, an ontology-based product–service configuration approach is presented in this paper. Firstly, value attributes of product–service are defined based on the analysis of customer demands. And the demand cluster method is proposed to identify value demands of customers. Secondly, the modular system of product–service is established which is the basis of building product–service ontology. Thirdly, the product–service configuration method based on ontology modeling is put forward. Finally, the proposed approach to product–service configuration is demonstrated by an example of configuring service packages of civil aircraft materials.