product engineering

Strategic Product Planning must adapt to current challenges such as circular economy, digital business models and interdisciplinarity. Established process models, for example, can only be applied to Product-Service Systems to a limited extent. This article presents a new SPP model developed through an analysis of 230 existing approaches and enhanced by the integration of digital twins, enabling continuous feedback throughout the entire product life cycle. This allows product monitoring and dynamic adjustments to the SPP. The model adopts an agile, iterative framework consisting of five cyclical key activities, guided by five control points aligned with increasing levels of maturity. By factoring in circularity from the outset, the model promotes resource-efficient products and production processes. Its emphasis on flexibility, information circularity and sustainability ensures future value and adaptability across industries of the proposed SPP model.

Decisions affecting the sustainability of products are made during the engineering process. As product engineering progresses, statements on sustainability can also be substantiated. Initially, only estimates based on related products and processes are possible, but later, operational and machine data can be used. When metrics are used for key figures, the traceability of the data should be ensured. For this purpose, relevant data quality criteria and indicators are selected and analyzed for correlations. Data availability can be increased by relying on partners within data ecosystems for product engineering. Data spaces such as Gaia-X, Catena-X and Manufacturing-X form a basis for this ambition.