Value assessment capabilities in early PSS development a study in the aerospace industry

Sammanfattning: Providing added value to standalone products by adding services is at the core of product service systems (PSS) offered in manufacturing industries. Providing PSS requires a change not only in the way products are sold, but also in the way they are designed and developed. Engineers need to assess the value of a forthcoming PSS solution as soon as possible in the design process, addressing service-related issues that often fall outside their technical horizon and are challenging to seamlessly translate into the product technical requirements. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the early stages of aerospace product development, proposing methods and tools in order to improve the decision-making process, by enhancing the awareness of engineers and designers about the value contribution of different design alternatives. This academic work was performed through action research in close collaboration with major European aerospace manufacturers, research centers, and academic institutions conducting research in product development. The thesis first depicts the current practices and limitations of value assessment in early design stages, describing the increasing complexity of the aerospace development projects. Improvements for current practices are proposed in terms of developing value assessment capabilities coupled with requirements analysis and enhancing communication of the expected value contribution of a forthcoming solution. Second, this thesis proposes a conceptual approach aiming to enhance the communication between engineers and designers of the value-related aspects of a solution in early design stages. This approach allows for the visualization of the results of a value assessment activity using color-coded features on the product computer aided design (CAD) model. The characteristic of the approach is to allow for the simultaneous visualization of value scores and knowledge maturity in a unique representation. The approach is meant to increase the awareness about the multifaceted aspects of the value assessment of different designs, promoting tradeoff and impact analysis. In conclusion the thesis summarizes the findings of the empirical analysis, showing the need to complement requirements information with the assessment of value and knowledge maturity, and proposing color coded CAD models as technological enabler for the communication of the outcomes of the value assessment. Finally guidelines for future research are provided.