Warranty Driven Design—An Automotive Case Study

Abstract

Much is to be found within the literature relative to Product Service Systems and the process of servitization. As companies adopt these philosophies the concept of advanced service provision and availability contracting continues to evolve and to be adopted. Underpinning all of this is the management and miti- gation of risk to revenue streams due to the lack of availability of the product’s design function resulting from failure or degradation. This has seen the emergence of Through-life Engineering Services and Integrated Vehicle Health Management which offer strategic solutions for the organisation seeking to mitigate risk and inform the design process. Whilst the majority of the literature focuses upon the aerospace and defence sectors little is known about the automotive sector. This chapter offers insight into the types of service data and the data sources used within a leading UK Automotive Manufacture. The means of obtaining the voice of the customer is also discussed. Finally an evolving ‘straw man’ TES informed system architecture is presented which will form the basis of future research and devel- opment by the author.