Conference article

Benefits of a Product Service System Approach for Long-life Products: The Case of Light Tubes

A.W. Thompson
School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

H. Ny
School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

P. Lindah
School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

G. Broman
School of Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

M. Severinsson
AuraLight International AB, Karlskrona, Sweden

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Published in: Proceedings of the 2nd CIRP IPS2 Conference 2010; 14-15 April; Linköping; Sweden

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 77:11, p. 83-89

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Published: 2012-10-11

ISBN: 978-91-7393-381-0

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

Products designed for long-life often have significant potential for better sustainability performance than standard products due to less material and energy usage for a given service provided; which usually also results in a lower total cost. These benefits are not always obvious or appealing to customers; who often focus on price. Long-life products are therefore at an inherent disadvantage: due to lower volume of sales that results from the products’ longer-life; the margins (price) often need to be higher. In this paper; we demonstrate that when the revenue base is shifted to be the service of light (instead of the sales of light tubes); there is an opportunity for a “win-win-win” for the light user; the long-life light provider and society. Through a product-service system approach; resulting in a well-communicated total offer; the full array of benefits becomes clearer to the customer; including that they avoid the high initial cost.

Keywords

sustainability performance; long-life products; product-service system; value chain; modeling

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