Understanding and fulfilling information needs of stakeholders along product lifecycles: Applying data analytics in product life-cycle management

Abstract

Improving the management of product lifecycle is becoming increasingly important today. The concept of Closed Loop Product Lifecycle Management (CL-PLM) has been developed to help organizations in the value chain to promote the comprehensive management of product lifecycle information and activities. CL-PLM attempts to manage all processes related to products, from product design to end of product life. However, the development of this concept is not still complete. There is a need for more research to manage the data and information flows and to provide each organization in the value chain with the right data from product Middle Of the Life (MOL). In this thesis, a new approach is presented, which completes the concept of CL-PLM in terms of information requirements of product beneficiaries in MOL of the product. The research question is as follows: Which groups and organizations use the products or are affected by it and can be benefited from the product's operational information? The research involves the determination of the information needs of the stakeholders and tests the automatic provision of information to stakeholder organizations (beneficiaries) using data analytics methods. The methodology used in this thesis is an inductive approach. To this end, two case studies on engineered products are carried out. Based on these two studies, the stakeholders involved in MOL, which benefit from the product and its information, are identified. Next, the dissertation identifies current and future information needs. Interviews and surveys have been used to identify information that MOL stakeholders need. The second part of this thesis examines, which data analytics methods can be useful for supporting each information need. After the completion of analysis, the findings are tested and implemented in real-world scenarios. The scenarios show how these information requirements can be satisfied with data analytics. The findings of this research are various. First is to find out the MOL stakeholders of the product lifecycle and grouping the most influential ones, which are affected by product MOL data and information. Moreover, identifying their current and potential future information needs from the product MOL. Second is a classification of data analytics tools (suggestions on suitable tools) that can help the stakeholders to meet their new information needs from the product, or improve their access to product MOL information. The third part of the results is the implementation of the mentioned concept in three scenarios. In implementation part, information needs of OEM about the performance of a component in an electric vehicle, information need of maintenance provider from motorboat in respect of spare part supply and information need of wind farm operator from windmills for contact design are selected and modeled. The latter shows that it is possible to automatize the provision of the required information to the stakeholders. These three contributions form the output of this dissertation. In sum, the findings of this thesis can be helpful for product and service manufacturers, especially those who want to move from pure production to the production of a product with the services, and organizations, who wish to add intelligence to their products. This research can also be useful for PLM software developers. Finally, it is helpful for all companies involved in the realization of engineered products that want to understand and manage the lifecycle of the product.