Evaluation of Variety-induced Costs in Product-Service Systems (PSS)

In this paper a new model is presented for the evaluation of variety-induced costs in product-service systems. The model consists of a descriptive model visualizing variety within the integrated product-service system and an explanatory model quantifying the cost of a given PSS configuration. The descriptive model uses the concept of a hierarchical feature tree, which visualizes the multitude of possible configurations derived from offered product and service features. In the explanatory model the influence of variety within a PSS configuration on the overall cost is analyzed. Since a PSS is an integrated system the cost-relevant interdependencies between product and service features are furthermore evaluated. The model was applied to a case study at a company in the machinery industry offering a broad range of product variants and services.