Koti and Tobias
The international CIRP conference on Integrated Product Service Systems (IPS2) was held in Linköping April 13-17. With some 80 papers and 120 attendees from all over the world it was a key event for the research in product/service systems. The division contributed with 5 scientific papers.
The CIRP IPS2 conference introduced a new format for the presentations. There were 5-6 short presentations in a row in each session and a following discussion including the audience to elaborate on common topics. And, there were two chairs for each session. We found this approach as both challenging for the presenters (how to “sell” your message in such a short time as 10 minutes?) and for the chair of the sessions (how to facilitate a fruitful discussion?). But, in our view, this format turned out to be a success.
Johan Wenngren presented his and Peter Thor’s first paper, “PSS Innovation: Discussing Knowledge Based Tools”, where they elaborated on knowledge based tools and innovation for PSS. The paper is based on Volvo Aero Corporations work with knowledge based tools, where the study serves as a base for further research in the THINK-project. The move towards PSS implicates that the engineers developing the PSS offers must be able to shift between an exploitative and explorative focus. This study highlights that merely working KB-tools is not enough for technical PSS development, and show some learning’s from current industrial experience on how to develop the future tools.
Koteshwar and Johan
Koteshwar Chirumalla presented his paper on the topic, “Exploring Lightweight Knowledge Sharing Technologies for Functional Product Development”. After highlighting the importance of cross-functional knowledge sharing tools in ‘PSS’ development, this paper specifies the limitations of traditional enterprise systems for cross-functionality and explains the concept of “lightweight technologies” to support knowledge sharing across corporate and departmental boundaries. Further, It points out opportunities and challenges related to the adoption of an Engineering 2.0 approach in PSS domain network.
Koteshwar did also act as presenter for a paper written by Marco Bertoni and Åsa Ericson. The paper describes a specific kind of knowledge based PSS, and has the title, “Introducing PSS Thinking in Product-Based Organizations”. Theoretically, the shift into PSS is fairly straightforward, but the paper elaborates on industrial implications for such a change.
Before the conference was the one day VINNOVA workshop “3rd National Workshop on Functional Sales” where the division took part as co-organizer and Ola Isaksson was keynote speaker.
CIRP IPS2 plenary session
The very interesting week was finalized with a network meeting within the global PSS Design Research Network where news and plans for the future were shared.
Links to papers by LTU/BTH participants:
