SFB 768 - C1

The realization and use of the individual components of complex market offerings, which today usually comprise combinations of product and service elements in service bundles, are subject to development and production times of varying lengths. Both the most varied life cycles of the individual components, which are provided by different functional areas, and cyclical market, competitive and social developments and trends present companies with major challenges. When innovating technical products and the services increasingly linked to them, cyclical interactions intensify the high pressure on results and deadlines, which is reflected in shortened test phases, frequent model changes and thus risks that are difficult to calculate.

In the development of complex solutions, the ability to adequately integrate customers into the innovation and solution development process is one of the decisive factors for differentiation from the competition and overall economic success. However, manufacturers often fail to sufficiently consider the requirements, needs or further development ideas of their customers. The supposed "solution" often addresses the customer's problem only inadequately or temporarily, since the various service bundles for solving the problem are usually offered individually and are each subject to their own innovation cycles or are strongly influenced by external (e.g., technology, market, fashion) cycles.

The long-term goal of this project is to develop a cross-cycle methodology for integrating customers into solution development throughout the entire innovation process.

First, methods and routines already used in science and practice for active customer integration, especially with regard to their suitability for dealing with cycles in innovation processes, will be collected and analyzed. Based on this, a model for active, cross-cycle customer integration will be developed, which will then be extended and prototypically evaluated by an IT-supported method apparatus for active, cross-cycle customer integration in solution development to be used in a moderated manner.

• detailed and comprehensive understanding of innovation processes from a cycle perspective
• Possibilities for modeling and designing cyclical interactions in the innovation process
• Provision of a basis for making solution development more demand-driven, faster and better through cross-cycle customer integration

• BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances GmbH
• Chair of Information Technology in Mechanical Engineering: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Bender
• Chair of Product Development: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Lindemann, Dr.-Ing. Markus Mörtl
• Chair of Control Engineering: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Boris Lohmann
• Chair of Industrial Management and Assembly Technology: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gunther Reinhart
• Chair of Information Technology in Mechanical Engineering; Department of Automation Technology: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Schiller
• Chair of Product Development; Department of Applications of Virtual Product Development: Prof. Dr. Kristina Shea
• Chair of Sociology: Prof. Dr. Rainer Trinczek
• Chair of Service and Technology Marketing: Prof. Dr. Florian von Wangenheim
• Chair of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Technology: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Zäh

German Research Foundation

• DIN (ed.) (2009): Hybride Wertschöpfung - Integration von Sach- und Dienstleistung, PAS 1094, Berlin 2009, Beuth.
• Hoffmann, H.; Fähling, J.; Leimeister, J.M.; Krcmar, H. (2009): Customer integration in innovation processes for hybrid products - a review. In: Proceedings of Informatik 2009 - Im Focus das Leben, ed: GI - Gesellschaft für Informatik, GI Lecture Notes in Informatics, Lübeck.
• Köbler, F., Fähling, J., Vattai, A., Leimeister, J. M., Krcmar, H. (2009): Analysis of value creation by product-service-systems in the German medical engineering industry, International Symposium on Services Science 2009, Leipzig, 2009.

• Project description TUM - Technical University Munich

• Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister