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Numerous leanness assessment models were developed for both manufacturing and service sectors. However, little research effort was made to provide an instrument that can be used to measure the leanness level of the product-service system (PSS). This paper aims to propose an index to assess the leanness of PSS in a UK manufacturing company.

The development of the assessment model was carried out through an iterative process. Commencing from existing literature on lean manufacturing assessment and lean service assessment, the initial model for assessing PSS leanness was developed. This initial model was refined via two consecutive phases. The first one includes semi-structured interviews with academic researchers involved in lean projects where their comments were considered. In the second phase, semi-structured interviews with several experts working in different UK manufacturing industries and involved in lean and continuous improvement projects were conducted to reach the final assessment model. After developing the model, the next step was identifying a suitable company for applying the model. The case company was selected because of its commitment to implement lean practices and its ability to participate in this study. After that, data was collected from the case company and the PSS leanness index was calculated using a multi-grade fuzzy approach. Finally, areas for further improvement were identified and the results obtained were validated.

The PSS leanness index computed for the case company indicates that the service offering process provided by the company is generally lean. Areas for further improvement were identified.

This study focussed on a single case company and is based on the experts’ opinions; this may tend to be biased. However, future studies will be performed to multiple-case studies to enhance findings and more empirical research will be conducted to catch more insights into PSS leanness.

This paper provides guidelines to manufacturing companies’ managers for measuring the PSS leanness index and planning for the future. This index gives information regarding the degree of lean adoption in the service offering process and identifying the gap between the current PSS leanness level and the desired state.

The proposed model has been developed by the opinion of academicians and industry experts. The proposed model can provide guidelines and directions for managers for PSS leanness assessment.

The purpose of this paper is to answer two research questions: what are the ERP resources and organizational complementary resources (OCRs) required to achieve each group of benefits? And on the basis of its resources, when should an organization invest more in ERP resources and/or OCRs so that the potential value of its ERP is realised?

Studying 12 organizations in different countries and validating the results with 8 consultants.

ERP benefits realization capability framework is developed; it shows that each group of benefits requires ERP resources (classified into features, attached technologies and information technology department competences) and OCRs (classified into practices, attitudes, culture, skills and organizational characteristics) and that leaping ahead to gain innovation benefits before being mature enough in realising a firm’s planning and automation capabilities could be a waste of time and effort.

It is qualitative study. It needs to be backed by quantitative studies to test the results.

Although the “P” in ERP stands for planning, many academics and practitioners still believe that ERP applies to automation only. This research spotlights that the ability to invest in ERP can increase the innovation and planning capabilities of the organization only if it is extended and grown at the right time and if it is supported by OCRs. It is not cost effective to push an organization to achieve all the benefits at the same time; rather, it is clear that an organization would not be able to enjoy a higher level of benefits until it achieves a significant number of lower-level benefits. Thus, investing in higher-level benefit assets directly after an ERP implementation, when there are no organizational capabilities available to use these assets, could be inefficient. Moreover, it could be stressful to users when they see plenty of new ERP resources without the ability to use them. Although it could be of slight benefit to introduce, for example, business intelligence to employees in the “stabilizing period” (Badewi et al., 2013), from the financial perspective, it is a waste of money since the benefits would not be realised as expected. Therefore, orchestrating ERP assets with the development of organizational capabilities is important for achieving the greatest effectiveness and efficiency of the resources available to the organization. This research can be used as a benchmark for designing the various blueprints required to achieve different groups of benefits from ERP investments.

This research addresses two novel questions: RQ1: what are the ERP resources and OCRs required to achieve the different kinds of ERP benefits? RQ2: when, and on what basis, should an organization deploy more resources to leverage the ERP business value?

In recent years, 3D printing technologies have been widely used in the construction industry. 3D printing in construction is very attractive because of its capability of process automation and the possibility of saving labor, waste materials, construction time and hazardous procedures for humans. Significant researches were conducted to identify the performance of the materials, while some researches focused on the development of novel techniques and methods, such as building information modeling. This paper aims to provide a detailed overview of the state-of-the-art of currently used 3D printing technologies in the construction areas and global acceptance in its applications.

The working principle of additive manufacturing in construction engineering (CE) is presented in terms of structural design, materials used and theoretical background of the leading technologies that are used to construct buildings and structures as well as their distinctive features.

The trends of 3D printing processes in CE are very promising, as well as the development of novel materials, will gain further momentum. The findings also indicate that the digital twin (DT) in construction technology would bring the industry a step forward toward achieving the goal of Industry 5.0.

This review highlights the prospects of digital manufacturing and the DT in construction engineering. It also indicates the future research direction of 3D printing in various constriction sectors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a technical product‐service systems (t‐PSS) for the BoX^® (Big OptiX) ultra precision free‐form grinding machine which has been designed and developed at Cranfield University. BoX is a new machine concept where advanced mass production and ultra precision technologies are combined.

This work utilises the machine as a demonstration case study to investigate t‐PSS for the machine tool providers. It develops three t‐PSS business models for the BoX machine: product‐, use‐ and result‐oriented.

The paper discusses the stakeholders' responsibilities, cash flows, application sectors, and consequently benefits and shortcomings of the three business approaches.

The enhancement of competition from low cost economies, vibrant market requirements and increasing customer demands cannot be addressed merely by the latest achievements in technology. As a response to this, the modern manufacturing industry is shifting its orientation towards t‐PSS. t‐PSS is an integrated product and service offering that delivers value in use.

The novelty of this paper lies in identifying and analysing the key implications of t‐PSS on machine tool industry using the BoX machine as an example case study.

In the light of challenges experienced in cost estimation at the bidding stage of complex engineering services in the defence industry (e.g. contracting for availability), the purpose of this paper is to present a framework to manage the influence of uncertainty on cost estimates.

The research applied the Soft Systems Methodology and benefitted from interaction with four major organisations in the defence industry through document sharing, semi-structured interviews, workshops, and case studies.

The framework is composed of seven stages to plan, identify, prioritise, classify, and manage cost uncertainties. Through the validation of three case studies some of the key benefits of the framework were realised in project planning, uncertainty visualisation, and capability management.

The research has been applied in the defence sector in the UK and focuses on the bidding stage. Further research needs to be applied to confirm that the findings are applicable across industries and across the life cycle.

The paper builds on the theory behind risk and uncertainty management and proposes an innovative framework that avoids the assumption of “perfect” knowledge by raising questions about the validity of the input data.

The adoption of the product‐service system business model means that the designing company has greater scope and motivation to learn from experience of its products in use to improve their core design and engineering capabilities. Continuous improvement, however, depends crucially upon the implementation of effective knowledge and information management (KIM) systems within a dynamic learning environment that impinge on diverse communities throughout the product lifecycle. This paper aims to address these issues.

This paper consolidates literature reviews and presents empirical observations relating to the current KIM systems and practices within large aerospace and manufacturing companies. In particular, experiences from a case study to enhance reuse of in‐service feedback conducted with an aerospace company are reported.

The empirical observations suggest that the feedback processes rely on a combination of formal and informal personalization and codification approaches, but companies are placing greater emphasis on the development of information systems to support learning from in‐service experience. It is argued that greater value could be realized from collective reuse of in‐service information but should be considered from the outset such that its content and representation could be made more amenable to computational analysis and organization for knowledge discovery.

To achieve the full aspirations of learning from in‐service experience, issues and challenges of KIM need to be addressed. These are summarized as strategies to promote success of codification approaches.

The initial value of the techniques for improving in‐service information reuse has been demonstrated to the industrial collaborator.

Traditionally, many manufacturers of cost intensive capital goods have largely focused on design, realization and distribution of high‐quality products. Meanwhile, their industrial customers increasingly expect to be provided with diverse services. These services predominantly aim at enhancing the functional and the economical performance of the underlying products. To systematically exploit the potential of services, an appropriate combination of products and services becomes crucial. For achieving desired benefits for both manufacturers and their industrial customers, product‐service systems (PSS) have to be configured systematically. This paper aims to address these issues.

The presented approach considers customer, manufacturer and product life cycle specific aspects within the configuration of PSS. The paper presents a framework which comprises all activities necessary to conduct a systematic configuration of PSS. Throughout the paper, an elementary case study illustrates the activities.

Exemplary use cases indicate that the configuration of PSS using the presented approach is beneficial.

The case study is a success. However, especially the increasing complexity of modern capital goods demands for developing a suitable application software that supports the configuration.

The paper presents a successful application for conducting a customer, manufacturer and product life cycle‐oriented configuration of PSS.

Product‐service systems (PSS) could potentially benefit consumers, but empirical studies of business‐to‐consumer PSS solutions have been scarce. The purpose of this paper is to identify conditions for consumer acceptance, and propose a methodology for PSS development.

Factors influencing consumer acceptance of PSS are investigated through focus groups and individual interviews, and elaborated in relation to theory from user acceptance and innovation adoption literature. Procedures for conceptual development of PSS are then proposed, based on methodology adapted from user‐centred design.

The two factors “impact on everyday life”, and “uncertainties” in anticipating such consequences were repeatedly brought up by participants. PSS affect consumers through practical implications for the activities they engage in. This goes beyond the service encounter, is highly complex and case specific why development processes should include iterative studies with consumers.

The studies use hypothetical PSS offers. Validation and refinement of the proposed methodology would require application in commercial development projects.

The proposed methodology is expected to support requirements elicitation, and facilitate early stages of PSS development.

This paper presents empirical findings regarding consumer acceptance, and provides a detailed analysis of factors that are central to PSS acceptance. It also introduces methodology for description and analysis of the complex consequences a solution may have from a consumer perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate how Swedish industry has adapted their products for product/service systems (PSS).

Three case study companies that manufacture forklift trucks, soil compactors and household appliances are studied. Interviews with company staff are conducted as well as product analyses in laboratorial environment. The theory is based mainly on previous PSS, design and remanufacturing research.

A key factor when developing products for PSS is to design the product from a life‐cycle perspective, considering all the product's life‐cycle phases, namely manufacturing, use, maintenance and end‐of‐life treatment. Many of the design improvements deal with the accessibility of parts and components during maintenance and remanufacturing operations, and several of them could reduce the need and cost for maintenance, repair and remanufacturing.

Uncovering any additional product requirements needed for a successful PSS not addressed in this paper. For example, it could be interesting to explore which product data could be collected during use in order to improve the products' different life stages.

The findings in this paper illustrate and describe many industrial implications for engineering designers to consider when developing PSS.

The novelty of this paper is aimed for designers to study how they can adapt their future products used in PSS in a more beneficial way than in traditional product design. The paper shows ideas and general guidelines to follow which have been scarcely published.