How lean thinking affects product service systems development process

PSS development involves together, through the servitization phenomenon, both manufacturing and service workers carrying great potential to pursue industrial competitiveness, customer satisfaction and sustainable improvement. The belief is that the development level of PSS design is slowly evolving through a path strongly driven by the evolution of the technology and the progressive involvement of the industry in its application. However companies still need best practices able to improve the PSS development processes performances in a more systematic way. Lean techniques already managed to provide these procedures in a product context allowing the improvement of both product manufacturing and product development processes. The evolution of Lean to an intangible dimension also guided companies’ convergence strategy from mass production to mass customization in an efficient and effective way. For this reasons the paper aims to investigate the literature about Lean Thinking evolvement from manufacturing to design phases, as well as from product to service. On this basis, the definition of which are Lean Thinking aspects which could positively affect also PSSs Development will enable the authors to understand which are the more suitable tools to develop Lean PSS and how to provide companies best practices able to improve the PSS development processes performances in a more systematic way. This opens the way to new opportunities and challenges through many further research and industrial projects.