Towards a Core Integrative Framework for Complex Engineering Service Systems

Abstract

Complex Engineering Service provision is a developing area for both practitioners and academics. Delivery requires an integrated offering, drawing upon company, customer and supplier resources to deliver value that is an integration of complex engineered assets, people and technology. For a business to present a sustainable value proposition, managers are required to develop a diverse skill set, working dynamically across previously separated business areas with established company boundaries. In this chapter we will present a framework for complex engineering service system that is value-centric and that conceptually integrates the chapters of this book. The framework proposes that the provision of service requires companies to be capable of working together with their clients to create value through three integrated transformations: people, information and materials & equipment. Successful provision of complex engineering service solutions therefore requires the integration and mastery of many different disciplines that bring about these transformations as well as understanding the interactions and links between both the transformations and the disciplines. The challenge laid out in this chapter and developed throughout this book explores this new environment, providing guidance and identifying areas requiring future work.