Empirical study on quality management for product-service systems in industrial environment

Purpose – To achieve long-term customer retention a comprehensive and individual performance is increasingly important for companies from the manufacturing industry. A possibility to meet this challenge is given by Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of a current study on quality management for IPS². Design/methodology/approach – After a short introduction to the topic of IPS² the paper takes the study design as its structure. It gives an overview of the demography and results of the study and ends with a conclusion. Findings – Concerning the choice of products and services the results show that customer individual performances prevail. Closely related to that is the tender of services, which are meanwhile a part of the performance offer in all industries. All in all there are already first types of IPS². The quality perception exceeds the conformance of specific requirements. Reliability and perceived quality are becoming increasingly important. An integration of customers into the quality management is the exception. Regarding the quality management in value creation chains it can be outlined that quality goals are mostly company-wide but not for the entire value creation chain. Cross-company standardized processes exist in least cases. This also applies to cross-linked CAQ-systems. Communication of quality problems is handled mainly via e-mail. Quality management in value creation chains needs a common buildup of competencies by joint trainings. In practice it is barely there. Even if the potential is seen, partners and suppliers mostly will not be considered. Originality/value – The paper considers the study results from different angles and shows the potentials of the IPS² approach. Thereby it investigates different approaches to offer a combined product-service system.