Design methodology for product-service systems

The paradigm of mass production and consumption based on the sale of physical products is considered because of strong competition and environmental impacts caused by this paradigm. To tackle these considerations, a service-based economy has emerged. The customer does not buy anymore a physical product, but pays for the use or for results provided by a system composed of products and services. Therefore, engineering designers must now reconsider the way they design these new systems and in particular physical objects involved in these systems. This doctoral thesis proposes a design methodology for structuring the development of these PSS from the design of the system to the detailed design of physical objects involved in the final solutions. Representations derived from the functional analysis and the establishment of operational scenarios enable the designers to describe the overall organization of the elements included into the system. This organisation is represented through the design buckles of the functional bloc diagram. Finally, the evaluation of the system from the design buckles enables engineering designers to link the parameters of physical objects and service units in order to assess that the whole system fulfil the performance expected by the customer.