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The operations and supply chain management the normative assumption holds that a product's structural and functional elements are fixed pre-production to support efficiency of operations. Firms moving from manufacturing to service are faced with delivering resource for customers in context and absorbing variety in use provides them with a number of challenges. This paper examines AM as a technology that efficiently provides high variety that meets emergent user demand. A single case study is undertaken, drawing upon design change data and in-depth interviews with industry experts. Findings show that in non-digitised environments, introducing design changes to modular products through life creates complexity, where complexity refers to increasing interdependencies between components in the product architecture that lead to increased coordination costs between internal and external supply chains. We find that advances in AM can act as a supply chain solution, managing complexity and allowing products and supply chains to efficiently and effectively adapt close to context of use. Findings suggest that existing theory must expand beyond the normative assumption that the physical product is fixed and the intangible service elements adapt to absorb variety, to include cases where the tangible product can absorb variety to meet emergent need.

PurposeThe objective of this work is to empirically investigate the design of a service delivery system that supports the provision of modular service logistics offerings.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth single-case study relying on interview data and extensive documentary evidence is carried out in the business-to-business (B2B) logistics sector. Three main analytical techniques are used to make sense of the qualitative data: thematic analysis, process mapping and the application of modular operators.FindingsA modular service delivery system comprises three types of processes that collectively deliver modular offerings. The platform consists of core processes that enable the collection, transport and delivery of physical items for all offerings (modular and non-modular). Dedicated modular processes are mandatory and exclusive to individual modular offerings. Optional modular processes are shared across several modular offerings. Interfaces regulate physical (e.g. parcels or parts) and information (e.g. booking data) inputs provided by the customer in order to control the interdependencies within these different process types.Practical implicationsThe identification of three process types and their interdependencies provides detailed insights into how managers can design modular logistics services that benefit from economies of scale and meet increasingly variable customer requirements. The importance of well-designed interfaces among the customers, the service offering and the service delivery system is highlighted.Originality/valueThis study extends previous modularity studies in service logistics. It is the first study to apply modular operators to determine the presence of modularity in the service delivery system and to establish the role of different process types in enabling modularity in the service delivery system.

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