Manufactures & Factories
❯
Robotic Process Automation
❯Value-based service
Value-based service
For:
Customer (product user), platform provider, service provider, product providerGoal:
OtherProblem addressed
The objective of this use case is the provision of remote services for products
and production based on (generic) service platforms. This use case can be seen
as a fundament for the deployment of arbitrary AI remote services.
Scope of use case
Process and status data from production and product use sources are the raw
materials for future business models and services.
Description
Use case description taken from References [127], [128] and
[129]. In the consumer area, the increased interconnectivity
of users, which has made it possible to collect user data, has
made a whole new range of services possible. For example,
navigation systems in our cars not only determine the
shortest route, but also the quickest, as the traffic situation is
assessed in real time based on movement data from other
users. Entertainment media is no longer purchased but
rather made available as needed using streaming services.
The services offered extend beyond simply making the
products available. The individual customer receives
optimized offers, based on user data: the quickest route
during rush hour, or music tailored to that customers taste.
Similar developments are occurring in an increasingly
interconnected industrial environment. Services that go
significantly beyond simply providing a production unit a
contemporary example is leasing are gaining in importance
and are changing the classic value-added processes and
business models.
Key aspects:
At the heart of this application scenario are IT platforms that
collect data from product use for example machines or
plants for production purposes and analyse and process
this data to provide tailor-made individualized services. This
can include, for example, optimized maintenance at the
proper time, or the timely provision of the correct process
parameters for a production task currently being requested.
The collected data can be product parameters, for example
the machines and plants required for manufacture, the
product status information, or data from the production
process or upstream supply process. Even the characteristics
of the processed raw materials or the parts of the product
can be included. The goal is to use this data as a raw material
for optimizing products and production processes and for
new services. This can help to not only improve existing
value chains but also perhaps create new value-added
elements.
Effect on value chains:
The industrial environment today is influenced in principle
by two actors the product provider (i.e. manufacturers of
production facilities and service providers) and the
customer (product users, i.e. production facility operators),
who work together with varying degrees of intensity.
With the introduction of value-based services, an additional
actor enters the scene, operating IT platforms that it uses to
provide new services to both classic partners. This platform
operator can be a new element of the value chain, that is, an
autonomous company. However, this role can be taken on by
product providers by increasing their value added compared
with the current situation.
Product providers make their product data and parameters
available. On the basis of all of this user data, new services
can now be developed, such as individual optimized
maintenance or specific operating and process parameters
that optimize or even expand production capabilities of the
existing infrastructure. The companies offering these
services (service providers) occupy the interface between
the product provider and the user. The result is that the
share in the value chain spanning from the product provider
to the user can be shifted significantly, compared with the
situation today. The user can then distinguish between the
products by considering the accompanying services or the possibility of expanding those services even after purchasing
the product, and no longer primarily by the (physical)
specifications mandated by the product provider. This
makes it very attractive for the product provider to use such
platforms and to offer new services on them.
Value added for participants:
In this application scenario the value added for the product
provider stems from the availability of a multitude of process
data from various application scenarios, which the user can
apply to further development of its product portfolio. As an
operator of related IT platforms, the product provider can
offer new services. In this way, it strengthens customer
loyalty and increases its portion of value added.
Value added for the user, on the other hand, can come from
better utilization of the product, enhanced product
availability from improved maintenance, for example, or
optimized product use as a result of optimally adapted
product parameters.