Verifying concepts for complex product-service (CoPS) design

With many complex product/system manufacturers facing intensified global competition, stricter environmental regulation, increased non-conformity risks and demand shifts towards customised life cycle solutions, product bundling with additional services is viewed as a way to support company growth and societal compliance. However, Product-Service Systems (PSS) inherit design complexity because of extended product life cycle, global service operation and modular customisation aspects. This is especially true for Complex Products and Systems (CoPS) facing significant challenges as regards concurrent engineering, system architecture, portfolio management or design collaboration. While some researchers advocate modifying New Product Development (NPD) approaches to include services, others propose PSS specific frameworks. This paper systematically investigates 119 design frameworks concerning CoPS applicability and idea-to-launch integrated design coverage. For this purpose, all frameworks are analysed by matching CoPS design characteristics and process scope completeness with nine conceptual frameworks fulfilling both criteria. Moreover, cross framework comparison was completed in light of related topics derived from literature. Findings indicate that 63% of the frameworks are applicable for CoPS also regularly adopting integrated product-service design approaches. However, frameworks often fall short of product/service modularity, portfolio management and network collaboration considerations. Differences between hardware, software and service solution characteristics are further neglected. In addition, most frameworks concentrate on particular tasks, phases or service designs, but do not provide a holistic approach. Although it may be possible to combine frameworks, this is problematic as the research studies investigated represent distinct perspectives, with unique focus points and industry assumptions. Having obtained deeper insights into CoPS peculiarities and PSS development, an advanced conceptual CoPSS design framework is proposed.