Closing decades of the 20th century were marked with growing levels of consumption and production. They triggered significant increases in the consumption of raw materials (minerals and water) and energy but also had a huge negative environmental impact (Stahel, 2008). Soon, the subject became an issue hotly debated in many different circles.
Many organisations took interest in the idea of sustainable development. People realised that positive environmental effects and reduction in consumption of resources and in production can be achieved by providing customers with solutions tailored to their needs and based on product utility or functionality (Roy, 2000; Toepfer, 2002).
Currently, we are observing changes in economic structures as a result of which manufacturing industry starts playing less prominent role. Recent decades have witnessed increasing share of the service sector in GDP. According to STATISTA.COM portal, in 2018 the sector accounted for over 65% of global GDP. In the same year in Poland service sector share in GDP amounted to 56.80% while in Finland it reached 74.3% (Statista, 2020). That is linked with the global trend known as servitisation, in which manufacturing companies are shifting from just manufacturing products and selling them as a one-off act and turn towards rendering services connected with these products (Baines et al., 2007; Kryvinska et al., 2014; Lay, 2014). To manufacturing enterprises, servitisation means a huge change in the perception of their business and in the vision of its future evolution. Servitisation, which also triggers changes in the business model of traditional manufacturing enterprises, consists in supplying customers with much more intangible content and services instead of tangible products (T. Baines et al., 2009; Lightfoot, Baines and Smart, 2013).
Globalisation, environmental protection, competition, technological progress, and knowledge-based economy have produced dynamic changes in economy (Munier, 2006).
Nowadays, manufacturing enterprises cannot rest their activities only on traditional product-centred business models. Market saturation, as well as evolving customer behaviour patterns and needs force manufacturers to come up with new solutions, strategies and offers that can generate higher added value. This is why manufacturers are looking for alternative business models and strategies (Marcus and P.T, 2014;
Adrodegari, Pashou and Saccani, 2017; Pirayesh et al., 2018). Under such circumstances, services integrated with the product represent the highest added value. The solution is known as a Product-Service System (PSS) (Goedkoop et al., 1999; Mont, 2000). Today, manufacturers increasingly more often put such solutions in place as they help them to
stand out from their competition. They see it as a way to survive in the market, improve their competitiveness, as well as maintain the existing and attract new clients (Martinez et al., 2010; Y. S. Kim et al., 2015; Matschewsky, 2019).
Remarkably, services change the way manufacturing enterprises operate. In its most advanced form, a PSS completely changes the perspective of a manufacturing enterprise and makes it see things from the customer perspective. Numerous organisational changes stem mainly from the transition from being a manufacturer to becoming a service provider, which is why this shift towards the PSS is not so easy to traditional manufacturing enterprises (Margherita, Eugenia and Michele, 2015; Oliveira et al., 2018). The intention to apply the PSS solution must be clearly reflected in company’s strategy and in its business model. When implementing the PSS, the business model itself is a guarantee of successful transformation of an enterprise and of its offering. Therefore, manufacturers have to make significant changes to their business model or create a new business model from scratch. Transformation or developing a new business model and a new offer require support from experts in a given industry and appropriate tools (Barquet et al., 2015; Cattaneo et al., 2017; Lahy and Found, 2017).
PSS systems are gaining increasingly more interest amongst academic and industrial circles (Tukker, 2015; Annarelli, Battistella and Nonino, 2016). PSS is a combination of tangible components (products) and intangible services brought together and designed to jointly meet concrete customer needs and desires and to generate new useful value proposition for them (Tukker, 2004; Neely, 2008). In accordance with the PSS concept, a service is not meant to be a supplement to a tangible product but an intrinsic component of an integrated offering. These are comprehensive solutions focused on the maximising of productivity and availability of products needed by a customer at a given moment. PSS helps in expanding the product lifetime. It also enhances manufacturers’ interest in considering product durability at the design stage, enables product regeneration and reuse.
It is also one of the most effective proposals that support the circular economy, which facilitates transition towards resource saving and environmental protection. The system does away with consumption-based economy and shifts towards a functional economy.
Functional economy optimizes the functioning or use of products and services, and thus the management of existing resources (products, knowledge and the environment). It aims to generate the highest possible functional / utility value for the longest possible period of time using the least possible amount of energy and materials (Stahel, 2008, 2010; Scott and Stahel, 2017). PSS has got a huge potential to develop competitive business models while reducing negative environmental impacts (Tukker and Tischner, 2006a; Baines et al., 2007; Vezzoli et al., 2014).
Although there are many PSS design methods, there are no ideal design methods addressed to each specific industry. This is mainly due to the specificity of these industries, their products and services raising the biggest customer interest. Because of gaps and challenges that PSS design is facing and considering the demand for studies in this area, works on the PSS for new industries should be continued.
The target market and relationships between a manufacturer and his customers are critical for PSS success (Mont, Dalhammar and Jacobsson, 2006; Sadek and Theiss, 2010;
Nguyen et al., 2014). Cooperation between companies (a manufacturer of printing machines and a printing house) is different from cooperation with an individual customer.
B2B transactions often call for a much more complex business solutions than B2C relations. A PSS addressed to B2B is also intended to help entrepreneurs (customers) in running their businesses and accomplishing business goals. These may be concrete services or solutions that support business processes and other operations of an enterprise.
Customers of B2B segment wish to put in place the best solutions in enterprises to generate the biggest benefits and often want to test the proposed solutions before they accept an offer. To a manufacturer it is an additional difficulty which shows that a lot of attention needs to be paid to building customer relations, to get better acquainted with customer needs, provide him with professional service and expert knowledge in a given area. Another aspect that should be considered is offering personalised solutions to customers (Sakao and Lindahl, 2009; Ebikake, Sassanelli and Terzi, 2018; Ding, Liu and Yang, 2019).
Whether a PSS can be applied and whether it is successful largely depends on the industry and situation in the marketplace. Successful PSS implementation also depends on customer requirements which are seen as a fundamental barrier to the approval of a PSS.
This is why when designing a PSS one desperately needs knowledge accumulated by users, as well as an in-depth analysis of their needs and problems. The strategies that would bring to a solution range from a questionnaire-based study to the direct involvement of customers in designing a PSS through workshops. Studies help to more precisely specify services that need to accompany the product under the PSS solution.
Findings from such studies will be translated into practice and deployed in developing new PSS.
Despite many research studies on PSS and models that have already been put into practice, no thorough analysis has been conducted for a concrete industry. Both literature and practice have, however, revealed a research gap, a white spot on the PSS map, i.e., the printing industry (industrial printing) for which no PSS has been proposed so far.
Industrial printing includes the development of patterns (printing forms) of drawing and text originals, printing them in large quantities and refining (varnishing, laminating), mainly for the masses. It is not close to other areas of printing such as printing and copying office documents. The industry is continuously growing and will continue to grow dynamically. Printing industry is a specific branch of economy using high value and high-tech machinery to print various materials (books, posters, labels, billboards). All of them are produced in a complex printing process carried out in printing houses, users of printing machines. PSS design for such an industry should be preceded with market analysis, analysis of needs of printing machinery users, and consultations with business practitioners from the industry. This is how it could provide a model comprehensive PSS framework to be followed by enterprises from this industry.
This dissertation is motivated by the wish to provide an input into the theory and practice of PSS design in the printing industry. It focuses on printing (industrial printing) and the industrial printing machines used in it, rather than on other related areas of printing, such as office document printing and copying and the photocopiers used in it. To start with, possibilities to implement improvements and innovation in printing houses were examined. Then literature on PSS design, classification and practical deployment was reviewed. In addition, a comprehensive analysis of the Polish printing industry was carried out: printing market was examined, questionnaire-based studies were conducted together with consultations with practitioners from the printing industry and workshops at printing houses. All these exercises enabled the development of a PSS business model for the printing industry, considering real problems and needs of printing houses, as well as environmental aspects. The study has clearly deepened the insight into the customer (printing house) perspective and his involvement in the PSS development process.