Digital Product-Service Systems meet Product Line Systems Engineering – The Cart before the Horse?

The use of digital technologies opens the door to new business opportunities for traditional product manufacturing companies thanks to the numerous services that these technologies make possible. This trend, referred to as digital transformation, has taken over the business world in recent years. In this new technology-enabled opportunity space, the appropriateness of traditional Product Line Systems Engineering (PLSE) practices can be questioned. This paper addresses the different challenges facing the application of PLSE to product-service systems, including those supported by digital technologies. To meet these challenges, a conceptual framework that extends current PLSE practices in order to define a structured approach for Product-Service Product Lines (PSPL) is proposed. The fundamental concepts behind the framework include a typology of PSPL and specific methods for architecting and engineering the PSPL (more precisely, for managing the variability of the PSPL), and for aligning the business strategies of classical product lines (i.e. tangible, physical product lines) with those of their corresponding, and less classical, service product lines. The authors believe that the proposed framework can help evolve the practice of PLSE and enhance the foundations of Systems Engineering with useful concepts. Copyright © 2020 by Thales. Permission granted to INCOSE to publish and use.