Continuous improvement of industrial product-service systems

To systematically exploit the potentials of technical services for both manufacturers and their industrial customers, products and services need to be integrated. The resulting industrial product–service systems (PSS) are realized by the members of a value creation network in close cooperation with the customers. Thus, the organizational and operational structure of the value creation network has to be designed in order to guarantee the PSS-provider a continuous product, customer and market feedback. This feedback information provides the basis for a continuous PSS-improvement process, comprising customer specific and customer spanning improvement measures. This paper analyzes the demands on a continuous improvement process (CIP) of PSS and provides a framework concept for a PSS specific CIP. A real-world case study of an industrial PSS-CIP concludes the paper.