Product design considerations for improved integrated product/service offerings

Abstract

In society today, there is increased awareness about escalating environmental problems, for example, climate change and pollution. The main reasons for these problems are tied to society's use of products. During the last two decades, industry and academia have proposed and tried to implement a large number of potential strategies and solutions to reduce these problems. One such promising concept that has emerged is the Integrated Product/Service Offering (IPSO) (also known as Product/Service System (PSS)). This concept is based on research from several areas such as business economics, engineering design, and environmental technology. An IPSO is "an offering that consists of a combination of products and services that, based on a life cycle perspective, have been integrated to fit targeted customer needs." The focus is on providing a function, not a product or service; this means that the provider can put more focus on optimizing the total life cycle cost (both from the provider and customer perspectives). In many cases, the service provider retains responsibility for the physical products in the IPSO during the use phase. The objective of this chapter is to introduce product design considerations to consider when developing an IPSO. The chapter begins by providing insight on why IPSOs require a new design mindset, followed by the presentation of useful guidelines for developing IPSOs. These guidelines are illustrated with three industry examples. This chapter is based on studies by the authors but also draws from studies found in the literature.While the focus is on business-to-business IPSOs, several of the proposed guidelines could also be valid for business-to-customer IPSOs.