Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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  • Publication
    Literature review of quality attributes for collaborative product development
    ( 2022)
    Randermann, Marcel
    ;
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Jochem, Roland
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    In collaborative product development, diverse stakeholders are involved in distributed engineering activities. This situation makes it difficult to ensure, manage, and improve the quality across company boundaries. Therefore, this work determines the characteristics of collaborative engineering which have an influence on the quality of distributed product development. Several interoperability frameworks were analyzed in order to get insights into key areas for collaboration design. Furthermore, a systematic literature review provided the best practices for improvement efforts. The derived quality attributes were condensed and adapted to collaborative product development in the four key areas of organization and processes, data/artifacts, information technology systems and infrastructure, and social factors. This enables product developers to examine their collaborative engineering environment and to identify room for improvement and to enhance quality. A case example of an engineering change order shows a collaborative data flow process, in which the quality attributes may indicate improvement measures.
  • Publication
    Systematic literature review - Effects of PSS on sustainability based on use case assessments
    ( 2020)
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Riedelsheimer, Theresa
    ;
    Gogineni, Sonika
    ;
    Klemichen, Antje
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    Product-service systems (PSS) are often presented as an inherently sustainable business model. The argumentation is often based on theoretical considerations, which cite circular economy (CE) characteristics in PSS business models as an explanation. In this paper we examined to what extent positive and negative sustainability effects of PSS could actually be observed, based on use cases. For this purpose, we conducted a systematic literature review and analyzed the statements on sustainability effects based on the triple bottom line approach. We find that positive sustainability effects, especially on the environmental sustainability of PSS, are described disproportionately often, which may be indicating a possible publication bias. In addition, the methods used to derive statements on sustainability effects are very heterogeneous and often unsystematic, making it difficult to compare the described effects. Furthermore, we were able to identify drivers that are particularly often considered in literature to be responsible for sustainability effects. As a result, we were able to derive direct implications for future research in the field of sustainability assessment of PSS.
  • Publication
    Potentials and challenges of Smart Products and related business models
    ( 2020)
    Wang, Wei Min
    ;
    Lünnemann, Pascal
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    Klemichen, Antje
    ;
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    Smart products are increasingly penetrating the market. They extend cyber-physical systems with Internet-based services and thus enable customer-specific adaptations and updates of products in the field. For industrial companies, smart product offering bear the potential to expand their product portfolios and increase their sales. In this article, the results of a survey among German engineers are presented that evaluated the actual state of adoption and future expectations regarding smart products in German industrial companies. The results show that the majority of German companies have recognized the potentials of smart products and also introduced such offerings in their portfolio. In this context, it is also expected that the product-related usage data will lead to a more individual communication with the customer. On the other hand, there is a high degree of uncertainty among companies regarding the adaptation of new business models, cooperation with an increasing number of partners, data management and the necessary technological infrastructure. These uncertainties can result in companies leaving potentials unexploited and opening up opportunities for new market participants. In summary, there seems to be a remaining gap between the willingness to abandon traditional business models and the expectations and strategies for future value creation.
  • Publication
    Issues in distributed Engineering of SMEs over the Collaboration Life Cycle
    ( 2020)
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Randermann, Marcel
    ;
    Rosa, Maiara
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    ;
    Jochem, Roland
    Collaboration in product development has played an increasingly important role in the past decades. However, distributed engineering creates a wide variety of challenges that, in some cases, are highly context dependent. In Germany, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role to the economy and engage in many collaborative engineering projects. So far, it remains a practical challenge to design a joint engineering environment that is not well-assisted by the science community. In addition, collaborations evolve over time. This study examines problem fields in collaborative engineering of SMEs and presents the collaboration life cycle (CLC) framework. This framework aims at classifying and contextualizing different problem domains within the greater context of a collaborative partnership. Therefore, we have conducted an interview study with industry experts regarding challenges in distributed engineering with SMEs and validated the results through an industry workshop. We argue that a high-level perspective on collaboration with different life-cycle phases in conjunction with the description of practical problem fields can assist in understanding collaboration in distributed design better. Going forward, the findings provide the base for ongoing research in a project that aims to make the maturity level of any distributed engineering environment assessable and provides guidance for improvements.
  • Publication
    Impact of Platform Openness on Ecosystems and Value Streams in Platform-Based PSS Exemplified Using RAMI 4.0
    ( 2020)
    Zambetti, Michaela
    ;
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Pezzotta, Giuditta
    ;
    Exner, Konrad
    ;
    Pinto, Robert
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    With the digital revolution, the IoT (Internet of Things) platform approach emerges as a supportive way for the implementation of IoT platform-based Product-Service System (PSS) offerings. To exploit the full potential of the platform economy and considering the complexity of the multitude of different actors in all the lifecycle stages, value creation architectures for digital and service platforms are one of the critical points to develop. In this work, the concept of Platform-based PSS is presented, and for representation purposes, an extension of the RAMI 4.0 reference model has been proposed. Specifically, the ecosystem perspective has been added to RAMI 4.0, to approach Platform-based PSS with a multi-actor lens. Moreover, the different contributions and benefits of the main participants in Platform-based PSS are illustrated. Therefore, three different scenarios have been exemplified with the proposed RAMI 4.0 extension relating the actors' possibilities to contribute to Platform-based PSS to the level of openness of a platform.
  • Publication
    A method to design Smart Services based on information categorization of industrial use cases
    ( 2019)
    Exner, Konrad
    ;
    Smolka, Elisa
    ;
    Blüher, Till
    ;
    Stark, Rainer
    Smart Services can be described as a specific manifestation of Product-Service Systems, which mainly refer to customer individual solutions based on the utilization of data derived from cyber-physical products and production systems. In this context the usage data is allocated and analyzed on a platform in order to extract valuable information, thus enabling the development and operationalization of new data-driven business models. In order to support the initial design of Smart Services companies have to achieve a thorough understanding of their existing or obtainable data as well as the related potential options to utilize these data. Based on the analysis of 51 industrial Smart Service use cases data flows and areas of application have been derived and clustered. Moreover, the defined categories are interlinked and mapped to the use cases. The findings have been comprised into an applicable Smart Service design method addressing early design stages. Finally, the approach (DAU flow method) has been applied and evaluated with two case companies, indicating sound qualitative results and providing valuable feedback.