The Platformisation of Manufacturing. Towards a Holistic Perspective for Systematising Digital Manufacturing Platforms

Digital Platforms have profoundly changed many sectors and shaped the concept of the platform economy. While they have been a part of the consumer goods sector for several decades, their development and rise in the manufacturing industry seems to be just beginning. A number of different digital platforms now exist specifically for product manufacturers, such as digital marketplaces for industrial goods, manufacturing as a service, platforms for product development, or platforms addressing digital production and digital product-service offers via the Industrial Internet of Things. Due to this high diversity, this paper aims to deliver a holistic concept that systematises digital platforms in manufacturing using a morphological box. We distinguish and subsequently embed three different main types in an overall development. The results provide insights into the platformisation trend of manufacturing, which not only holds implications for future research, but also serve as a basis for strategic decisions in manufacturing firms.