industrial services

Due to increased global competition as well as decreasing product margins industrial services are becoming increasingly important also in manufacturing companies. In parallel, the complexity of the service networks necessary to perform the different services continuously rises, leading to major challenges for these companies. In order to meet these challenges, companies rely on improved transparency. An important tool to achieve this is the introduction of KPIs to measure the performance of industrial services. In this paper we present results of an ongoing research project and describe the essential performance dimensions that must be considered for the planning and control of industrial service networks.

For many companies from the investment goods industry industrial services have evolved from a necessary prerequisite for selling a core product to a very important source of turnover and profit. But what role do industrial services play for the providing company during an economical crisis? To answer this question, the authors conducted interviews with six Swiss companies from machining and plant industry. The results of the research especially highlight the unique economic potential of industrial services. Companies may use the highlighted potential by adapting their service offering according to their customer’s economic situation.

Despite the increasing importance of industrial services, they are frequently developed unsystematically and often do not meet needs and expectations to guarantee a successful market launch. The increasing competition in many service markets emphasize the need for systematic analysis of all requirements, meaning to continuously develop innovative services that meet exactly with requirements of customers, employees, management and other stakeholders. This paper introduces a systematic process to analyse requirements within the process of new service development.

Although German planning service providers have specialized know-how in the field of factory planning, their size and insufficient resources limit their options to provide their services internationally. The formation of networks represents an outstanding opportunity for SME to bundle their competencies to become active in international markets. In order to support this process, this article identifies opportunities for bundling systems from the perspective of providers and describes potential network configurations. In addition, it introduces measures and actions intended to support planning service providers when they implement their services internationally in a network.

Confronted with intensive product price competition in China, industrial firms are forced to invest in extending the service business. Extending the service business is far from easy. Chinese competitors offer faked spare parts. Local service skills are very poor and service requirements force industrial firms to invest in logistic infrastructure. This article offers a guideline for managers seeking to professionalize the human resource management in the service organization, to adapt service offerings to the local customer needs, and to set-up a logistic infrastructure.

Many manufacturing companies want to become solution providers. Unfortunately, they have not extended their service offering systematically. They also have not built up the required capabilities in the company. The article describes how companies can find the right breadth of service offering and the required competences by analysing the customers' processes and needs. The article serves as a guideline for managers to extend and implement the service offering.