A lean perspective on servitization of manufacturing

Servitization of manufacturing is a fairly recent approach addressed in literature. The term is recognized as the process of creating value by integrating products with services. Servitization is supposed to contribute to a sustainable society through its potential to support dematerialization, i.e. reduction of materials used in production and consumption. Key aspects of lean are resource efficiency and customer-orientation. Though lean production has gained a high degree of attention, few studies have addressed the potential relationships between lean and servitization. Servitization is however not only relevant from a sustainability perspective, but can be regarded as “the next step” to create user value. This paper aims at providing a better understanding of the relationships between lean and servitization through an analysis of literature where the lean and servitization approaches are compared and contrasted. The underlying assumption is that a lean approach might support a manufacturing organization’s transition towards a servitization organization.