Technical field services for industrial machinery and equipment have become increasingly important for original equipment manufacturers. To deliver services to their customers, companies have to build up new core competencies and infrastructure, a challenge due to the high complexity and dynamics of this business. To assist companies in the strategic design of their network and the planning of resources for delivering industrial field services, we present a model-driven decision support system that uses discrete event simulation to support decision makers in various aspects of strategic design and tactical planning. The benefits of the decision support system include the creation of a generic framework that makes it possible to create simulation models of different field service networks for multiple purposes. Specifically, the system can be used to support various tactical planning and strategic design decisions while keeping investments low in terms of time consumption and money spending. In addition, the paper closes an identified gap involving a lack of decision support for the management of field service networks. An application of the decision support system in an exemplary case is used to illustrate potential applications and benefits.

The topic of operational risk has gained increasing attention in both academic research and in practice. We discuss means to quantify operational risk with specific focus on manufacturing companies. In line with the view of depicting operations of a company using material, financial and information flows, we extend the idea of overlaying the three flows with risk flow to assess operational risk. We demonstrate the application of the risk flow concept by discussing a case study with a consumer goods company. We implemented the model using discrete-event and Monte Carlo simulation techniques. Results from the simulation are evaluated to show how specific parameter changes affect the level of operational risk exposure for this company.

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