An Engineering Perspective on Service Science
This article focuses on the way in which engineering, as a discipline, can most effectively interact with the services sectors generally, and with service science in particular. This perspective is proposed in order to balance the relatively limited recog
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Abstract This article focuses on the way in which engineering, as a discipline, can most effectively interact with the services sectors generally, and with service science in particular. This perspective is proposed in order to balance the relatively limited recognition of both engineering as a contributor to service science and also services as an application area for engineering developments. The article is structured as a response to a series of questions relating to the current and potential future role engineering can best support the evolving area of Service Science, Management and Engineering Keywords Engineering Education Research Service systems Management Product service systems Curriculum Vocation
1 Introduction This article focuses on the way in which engineering, as a discipline, can most effectively interact with the services sectors generally, and with service science in particular. The need for a greater examination of the engineering – services linkage is motivated by a number of important issues: (a) Service sectors as a dominant employer of engineers: The service sectors are dominant in most western countries employing between 70–90% of the workforce (Paulson 2006). Even for students studying engineering, a career in the
* Preliminary material relating to this article has been presented at a number of public fora on future challenges for service science: International Service Science Workshop, Cambridge, UK, July, 2007, Sponsored Seminar, NICTA, Engineering Department, University of Melbourne, March, 2008 and UK Manufacturing Professors Forum, July, 2008.
D. McFarlane (*) Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, Alan Reece Building, 17 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK e-mail: [email protected]
H. Demirkan et al. (eds.), The Science of Service Systems, Service Science: Research and Innovations in the Service Economy, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-8270-4_15, # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
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service sectors is most likely. In Australia, by way of example, up to 57% of engineering graduates find jobs in the service sector.1 (b) Increasing requirements to optimise service design and delivery: Service businesses are facing unprecedented constraints on their operation and significant pressure to optimise their processes. This is the case whether it be cost cutting in government, space constraints in retail or leisure or environmental constraints in transportation. Even more broadly, there are increasing calls for greater innovation to be introduced into the provision of services.2 The engineering profession is equipped with numerous tools for systematically addressing these challenges. (c) Evolution from product to service provision in the industrial sector: Many manufacturers or providers of equipment are increasingly re-organising themselves as [asset based] service providers for economic or strategic reasons.3 The motivations for these changes ranges from the need to tighten and sustain customer links (e.g. office equipment, mobi
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