The concept of product-service system (PSS), or functional product development, will be a main component in a future sustainable society. A PSS paradigm will, not only, change the use of products and services, but also the development approaches. This since the responsibility of the physical artefact throughout the life-cycle is remaining with the providing enterprise.

The perspectives of reengineering, reuse and recycle can be handled in a totally different way than today, wherein the capacity to continuously improve the customer value by innovations becomes and important capability. At least two main challenges for design teams can be discerned. First, to improve customer value the design team has to be able to deal with more elusive customer needs. Second, the team has to have effective ways to continuously accomplish innovations.

This project aims to support PSS development teams to innovate by putting forward facilitating methods and tools. Specifically, the focus is on the following aspects, all helping to build a coherent methodology for team-based innovation:

  • Needs establishment and value modelling
  • Multidisciplinary teams
  • Effective knowledge sharing
  • Life-cycle knowledge modelling and visualisation of solutions

The project will be a joint effort of industry and academic representatives, where the work will be performed in a close collaborative mode. The project hypotheses are broadly captured in the statement that: visualisation of business and development related knowledge and rapid modelling and simulation in early phases support PSS teams to innovate and perform sustainable development.

Thus, besides increased knowledge about strategies and approaches for team-based innovation, demonstrators of tools and methods will be an outcome of this project.

Project information

Project Leader: Prof Tobias Larsson
Type: Research
Keywords: Engineering Design, Functional Product Development, Knowledge Enabled Engineering, Knowledge Based Engineering, Product Development, Team Based Collaboration, Innovation, Product-Service Systems.
Application area: Industrial Manufacturing, Aeronautics and Space
Time frame: 2008-2011
Funding: 15 MSEK (ProViking Programme within Foundation for Strategic Research)
Research unit: Luleå University of Technology
Partners: Foundation for Strategic Research, Designtech, Eurostep, Sandvik Coromant,Volvo Aero AB

The total offer; Product-Service Systems

Research publications

  • List of 54 research publications from project here.

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