Title: Towards a method compendium for the development of digitised products - findings from a case study

Authors: Manuel Holler; Matthias Herterich; Christian Dremel; Falk Uebernickel; Walter Brenner

Addresses: Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland ' Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland; Center for Design Research, Stanford University, Building 530, 440 Escondido Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, USA ' Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland ' Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland ' Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, Müller-Friedberg-Strasse 8, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland

Abstract: The pervasive infiltration of digital technology into physical products brings both tremendous challenges and opportunities to original equipment manufacturers. With the goal to support the initial stages of the product lifecycle, this article introduces a method compendium for the development of digitised products. More precisely, the compendium suggests: 1) customer- and user-centric innovation methods; 2) agile and prototyping methods; 3) system and architecture modelling methods; 4) feedback- and data-driven methods; 5) service and business modelling methods. Methodically, we draw on secondary data from a longitudinal single-case study scrutinising the development of digitised trucks at a leading materials handling and intralogistics organisation. Bounded to the business-to-business context of industrial equipment manufacturing, we enrich product lifecycle management with methodological contributions valuable for academia and practice alike.

Keywords: product development; product design; product lifecycle management; method; methodology; method compendium; method set; digitised product; smart product; materials handling and intralogistics organisation; original equipment manufacturer; case study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2018.092825

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2018 Vol.11 No.2, pp.131 - 153

Received: 01 Jun 2017
Accepted: 16 Nov 2017
Published online: 30 Jun 2018 *

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