The Danish shipbuilding industry has traditionally focused on delivering products to its customers, based on the longevity and high technical/functional qualities of their physical artefacts. But as with most established industries, the continuing market globalisation in the shipbuilding industry both opens opportunities, in terms of a rising number of potential customers and represents threats, due to the growing number of competitors worldwide.

Maritime component manufacturers are experiencing a growing demand from customers with respect to after-sales service. In this context a great business opportunity has been identified in becoming more systematic about the integrated product/service development activities of the company.

Vision

The PROTEUS vision was to develop new knowledge about how after-sales service can be effectively integrated into product- and business development in industrial organisations, so as to become a source of revenue, rather than a cost to the providing company.

Mission

The PROTEUS mission was to identify methods and tools for companies in the maritime sector that enable new product/service based solutions and business models to be established, based on alliances with their customers and each other. Furthermore it was the mission to help companies understand the organisational requirements to achieve new business activities, based on product and service engineering - so-called servitisation. 

Focus Areas

Product/Service-System (PSS) capability was the overall focus of PROTEUS. The PROTEUS participants were interested in understanding, through examples, how to effectively and systematically integrate service development into the product development and business creation processes. The following aspects were particular focus areas in the project:

• To understand the basic conditions in the maritime branch, for delivering PSS solutions
• To create deep cases from other industry branches, to show how similar companies have servitised
• To understand the individual companies' readiness to servitise
• To create a framework for PSS development and equip this framework with a toolbox of PSS methods
• To understand the organisational challenges and necessary activities to aid the servitisation process
• To explore how partnerships - both producer-to-customer and producer-to-producer can strengthen PSS concepts
• To create and try out PSS business models in the maritime branch.