Model-supported lifecycle analysis an approach for product-service systems

Product-Service Systems are complex assemblies of tangible and intangible elements, such as hardware, software and business processes. Performing lifecycle cost and environmental impact analyses for PSS is a difficult task. Currently, each analysis task creates a model of the PSS lifecycle on its own. Inconsistencies between the different models may lead to additional effort caused by, for instance, making the models consistent. For this reason, this paper presents an approach that utilizes a shared lifecycle model for two lifecycle analyses. The approach explains how a PSS lifecycle model is created with the Lifecycle Modelling Language to meet the needs of a lifecycle analysis. It further covers how the lifecycle information is exchanged between a modelling tool and an analysis tool. The discussion covers three challenges of the approach: model complexity, model dynamics and modelling tools. The outlook points at future research topics, for instance, how a shared lifecycle model relates to the Digital Twin concept and to item-level PLM.