In-depth Observations of Industrial Service Operations

Faced with stiff competition and slow growth in many markets manufacturing companies have increasingly looked towards services as their salvation. Further, they have started to focus on innovation in services and have invested in service-oriented R&D to attain a competitive edge. Industrial service, however, is a very complex and varied undertaking and, lacking a proper understanding, a lot of this R&D effort is being wasted. We have sought to rectify this deficiency by developing a deep understanding of the business and technical challenges facing the service business through two major field studies. In this paper we present key findings from them. This information can be used to address the real technical needs of the service business