Impact of Manufacturing-as-a-Service: Business Model Adaption for Enterprises

Product designers have access to a choice of manufacturers, who assist with services ranging from manufacturing appropriate design to actual manufacturing, commonly known as Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS). Large-scale enterprises take a leading position in implementing the potentials of MaaS into their business models. However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) face a high threshold and therefore hesitate exploiting the potentials of MaaS. In this paper we present our analysis of enterprises who operate in the prototype manufacturing industry in order to propose a guideline on how SMEs may position their business models to prepare for the future of MaaS.