Distributed manufacturing applied to product-service systems: a scenario-based design toolkit

Abstract

It is well known that the implementation of Product-Service Systems (PSS) is sometimes hindered by a number of organisational, cultural, and regulatory barriers. The hypothesis of this PhD research is that the application of Distributed Manufacturing (DM) can help companies and designers to overcome some of the barriers and improve the PSS development. The overall aim of this research is to investigate the potential applications of DM to improve PSS. In addition, it aims at developing design support for companies, design practitioners, and students for designing PSS solutions through the application of DM. The research started with the collection of theoretical knowledge, including existing PSS implementation barriers and promising DM opportunities. Later, a set of DM applied to PSS near-future scenarios were developed using the theory building approach by matching all PSS implementation barriers with DM opportunities. These scenarios as the main theoretical contribution of this thesis aimed at illustrating the potential of DM to improve PSS and encourage strategic conversation about DM and PSS combination. Later, these scenarios were integrated into the DM applied to PSS design toolkit consisting of 40 near-future scenario cards, three diagrams to organise these cards and one diagram to place ideas generated by users. The toolkit has been tested with experts, companies, design practitioners, and students in the UK, China, and Brazil. Each testing activity was organised to evaluate toolkit’s completeness, effectiveness, and usability and helped to define recommendations for improvements. The research is summarised with insights from the toolkit’s testing activities, including a design process suggested for various user groups, compatibility with other tools and methods, and future research opportunities.