Master Thesis Defense - August 16, 2019: Environment Based Design (EBD) Approach to Formalize Product-Service Systems (PSS) Design Process

Yuyang Shi

Friday, August 16, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.
Room EV001.162

You are invited to attend the following M.A.Sc. (Quality Systems Engineering) thesis examination.

Examining Committee

Dr. F. Mafakheri, Chair
Dr. Y. Zeng, Supervisor
Dr. W. Song, Co-Supervisor
Dr. C. Wang, CIISE Examiner
Dr. H. Ge, External Examiner (BCEE)

Abstract

In the past decade, Product-Service Systems (PSS) have been adopted by companies as a business model that can fulfill customers’ needs better, enhance market competitiveness and achieve sustainability. PSS integrates tangible product and intangible service in different ratio, which makes its design process complicated. However, in the design discipline, there has not been enough discussion for the methodological implications of PSS design, even though design components play a critical role in the development of PSS. In this thesis, a systematic approach — Environment Based Design (EBD) methodology is applied to formalize the PSS design process, focuses on analyzing the environment components and their relationships. A PSS life cycle model is proposed in order to help designers respond quickly to changes from the environment along the whole life cycle. A case study of elevator PSS design reveals the effectiveness and efficiency of EBD methodology.