Requirement-Oriented Engineering Characteristic Identification for a Sustainable Product–Service System: A Multi-Method Approach

Abstract

Product–service systems (PSSs) have great potential for competitiveness and sustainability. Customers’ requirements cannot be directly used in the design of a PSS. Accurate identification of customer requirements, especially hidden requirements in the product life cycle, and transformation of customer requirements into specific engineering characteristics for PSS design are urgent problems. This study proposed a systematic and whole-process framework employing specific identification processes and methods, as well as a big data analysis. A set of refined and integrated methods were used to better identify customer requirements and to transform the customer requirements into specific engineering characteristics more accurately and efficiently. We also used customers’ online review data—a huge information resource to be explored—and big data technology to improve the requirement information identification process. A case study was implemented to verify our methodology. We obtained the engineering characteristics of a smartphone PSS matching the customer requirements as well as the exact importance rankings of customer requirements and engineering characteristics. The analysis results revealed that the proposed methodology allowed PSS designers to assess the PSS requirements more specifically and accurately by providing an intuitive evaluation of the role and importance of the requirements, engineering characteristics, and their mutual interactions that were hidden or indirect.

A new product service system scheme evaluation method based on variable granularity weight and group decision-making

“…The superiority of the method based on fuzzy rough numbers in dealing with PSS scheme evaluation in a group decision-making environment was verified through a case study. Aiming at the identification and evaluation of customer needs in the PSS scheme design process, Liu et al 18 proposed a systematic whole-process framework that allows PSS designers to evaluate the requirements of a PSS scheme more specifically and accurately by evaluating the role and importance of the requirements. Tiwari et al 4 developed an evaluation method for a PSS design scheme by modifying and extending VIKOR using interval numbers.…”

Conceptual Solution Decision Based on Rough Sets and Shapley Value for Product-Service System: Customer Value-Economic Objective Trade-Off Perspective

“…Because L is 2, ϕ(v) = (ϕ P (v), ϕ E (v)). In other words, the Shapley value balances the interests of the solution's CV and economic objectives to provide the optimal allocation of utilities that maximizes coalitional and player utility in a competitive environment, as expressed in Equation (17). In addition, the Shapley value can be regarded as the expectation of each player's utility in the overall coalition utility, thereby reflecting the importance degree of different players on the overall interest.…”

“…Bertoni [16] constructed a five-step iterative process to support decision making in PSS design, which matches CV with sustainability to ensure customer satisfaction and meet performance requirements. Liu et al [17] used a refined QFD tool to convert customer requirements into engineering characteristics and ranked these characteristics by importance. Owing to the increasing complexity of PSS evaluation challenges, several multiple-criteria decision models have been adopted to extract the overall value of PSS conceptual solutions, such as the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) [14,18], višekriterijumska optimizacija i kompromisno rešenje (VIKOR) [19,20], and the preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) [21].…”

Sustainable Product-Service Systems Customization: A Case Study Research in the Medical Equipment Sector

“…Similarly, Sousa-Zomer and Cauchick-Miguel [56,57] proposed a FAHP-QFD procedure to prioritize the stakeholders' requirements in the sustainability dimensions, and the fuzzy set theory is considered capable of reducing the vagueness and uncertainty during the PSS development process. Differently, Liu et al [58] developed two HoQ models for a product and service, respectively, integrating them with the Kano model to evaluate customer re- The second phase of the method (Phase II in Figure 1) goes deeper and defines the product and service components required to fulfil the PSS characteristics and achieve customer value. In a PSS development context, the first phase of the method can be applied to translate customer needs and expectations into PSS main characteristics addressing the planning phase of the development process, while the second phase (i.e., the PSS components' definition) can be used fruitfully in the conceptual stage of the process when the PSS features are decided, and the detailed development has to be addressed [28].…”

“…Similarly, Sousa-Zomer and Cauchick-Miguel [56,57] proposed a FAHP-QFD procedure to prioritize the stakeholders' requirements in the sustainability dimensions, and the fuzzy set theory is considered capable of reducing the vagueness and uncertainty during the PSS development process. Differently, Liu et al [58] developed two HoQ models for a product and service, respectively, integrating them with the Kano model to evaluate customer requirements more precisely and using the FAHP to obtain a more accurate index weight and importance ranking of engineering characteristics. However, these investigations do not address the risks related to a possible lack of customer satisfaction when handling PSS development nor do they provide suggestions to transition from customer requirements to the elicitation of PSS characteristics that can hold a positive (or negative) impact on the PSS receivers.…”