The purpose is to describe new business opportunities within the Swedish railway industry and to support the development of business models that corresponds with the needs and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose is to describe new business opportunities within the Swedish railway industry and to support the development of business models that corresponds with the needs and requirements of Industry 4.0, here denoted as Service Management 4.0.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is an in-depth and descriptive case study of the Swedish railway system with specific focus on a railway vehicle maintainer. Public reports, statistics, internal documents, interviews and dialogues forms the basis for the empirical findings.
Findings
The article describes the complex business environment of the deregulated Swedish railway industry. Main findings are in the form of identified business opportunities and new business model propositions for one of the key actors, a vehicle maintainer.
Originality/value
The article provides valuable understanding of business strategy development within complex business environments and how maintenance related business models could be developed for reaching Service Management 4.0.
Details
Keywords
Hatem Algabroun, Jon Bokrantz, Basim Al-Najjar and Anders Skoogh
This paper presents a concept for digitalised maintenance (DM), maps the conceptualised DM to maintenance problems in industries and highlights challenges that might be faced when…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a concept for digitalised maintenance (DM), maps the conceptualised DM to maintenance problems in industries and highlights challenges that might be faced when realizing this concept.
Design/methodology/approach
First, maintenance problems that are faced by the industry are presented, followed by a conceptualisation of DM. Next, a typical operational scenario is used as an exemplification to show system dynamics. The characteristics of this conceptualised DM are then mapped to the identified maintenance problems of industry. Then, interesting initiatives in this domain are highlighted, and finally, the challenges to realize this approach are discussed.
Findings
This paper identified a set of problems related to maintenance in industry. In order to solve current industrial problems, exploit emerging digital technologies and elevate future industries, it will be necessary to develop new maintenance approaches. The mapping between the criteria of DM and maintenance problems shows the potential of this concept and gives a reason to examine it empirically in future work.
Originality/value
This paper aims to help maintenance professionals from both academia and industry to understand and reflect on the problems related to maintenance, as well as to comprehend the requirements of a digitalised maintenance and challenges that may arise.