First Steps to the Digital Shadow of Maintenance Services’ Value Contribution

Abstract

Industrie 4.0 is said to have major positive effects on productivity in manufacturing companies. However, these effects are not visible yet. One reason for this is the lack of understanding of maintenance services as a crucial value contributing partner in production processes, although scientific literature already highlighted the importance of indirect maintenance costs. In order to retrieve the unused potential of maintenance services, a digital shadow in form of a sufficiently precise digital representation is required, providing a data model for the value of maintenance actions so that asset and maintenance strategies can be optimized later on. Using case study research for process manufacturers, the first research contribution of this paper consists of 21 value contributing elements being identified. The second contribution is a reference processes model, showing seven major process steps as well as the required intra-organization interaction on an information technology system level. Therefore, it provides the base for the missing data model shaping the targeted digital shadow of maintenance services’ value contribution.