Product service system Essay Example for Free

Product service system Essay More and more researchers, institutes and programmes have paid attention to product-service ystems (PSSes) in the last decade because PSS integrates tangible artefact and intangible service to achieve sustainability, improve enterprise competitiveness, and meet customer needs better. In order to respond to the industrial trend towards PSS and frame the related research, the state-of-the-art of PSS research and development are reported. Furthermore, in order to integrate fragmental PSS solutions, this paper proposes a framework for product-service lifecycle management (PSLM) and technologies of PSS development. So, four categories are focused on: review of PSS, esearch about PSS development, a framework for PSLM, and technologies for PSLM (modular product-service development and ontology-based productservice knowledge expression and reuse). The preliminary solution of the implementation roadmap and technologies for PSLM which need to be perfected is proposed to lay a basis for further development and application of PSS for the benefit of industries. Keywords: product-service systems (Psses); product-service lifecycle management; PSS development; modular product-service development 1. Introduction Since the early 1990s, the driver in our economy has been changing from production f material goods to product-service offers based on knowledge and information (Roy and Baxter 2009). The service proportion of output and profits in manufacturing enterprises are increasing. It has become an important trend in the manufacturing industry that service is used to enhance the competitiveness of businesses as well as an important source of values (Sheehan 2000, Mont 2003). There are mainly two manifestations, the first is manufacturing companies are more and more focused on the service in the design or development phase; the second is manufacturers xpanding their activities to the entire lifecycle of the physical products. As a response to this trend, more and more enterprises are beginning to take this service-oriented model of manufacturing, and there are already a lot of successful examples. Rolls Royce offers Total Care Package and Power by the Hour rather than transterring ownership ot the gas turbine engine.

Australia :: History

Australia  ¡Ã‚ §The Portuguese were the first to discover the East Coast of Australia ¡Ã‚ ¨ In Australian history books, it has been thought for hundreds of years that Captain Cook from England was the first to discover the east coast of Australia on 28th April 1770. However latest evidence shows that this historic event is inaccurate. A number of relics and remains have been found which indicate the Portuguese arrival at Australia in the early to mid 1500 ¡Ã‚ ¦s, 200 years before Cook. These clues include the Mahogany Ship, a Portuguese caravel that was shipwrecked six miles west of Warrnambool; a stone house at Bittangabee Bay; the Dieppe map, a secret map drawn by the Portuguese; a cannon and five keys found in Geelong. The shipwreck of Mahogany Ship remains Warrnambool ¡Ã‚ ¦s first shipping disaster. The Mahogany Ship is believed to be a Portuguese caravel lost in 1522 in Warrnambool under the command of Cristovao de Mendonca. Prince Henry, the ruler of Portugal at that time, had sent Mendonca and his crew to Australia in order to discover unfound land on the other side of the world that he had located on the French Map, the Dieppe Map that the Portuguese had stolen and copied. Many people believed that the world was a flat saucer but Prince Henry believed that the world was a sphere. Prince Henry wanted to find out if there was in fact such land over the other side of the world as Australia, if it was inhabited and if there was any treasure or valuable things there. This journey had to be kept a secret because the Portuguese were breaking an agreement that they had made with the Spanish. The agreement stated that the Spanish and Portuguese had half of the world each to explore but they could not explore past their boundaries. Mendonca and his crew set out from Portugal in the 1500 ¡Ã‚ ¦s to find out about this new territory. Unfortunately the Mahogany ship was shipwrecked at Warrnambool in Victoria, Australia. Twenty-seven people reported that they saw the Mahogany Ship sink however no one ever found the remains of the caravel. It has been believed that a great storm last century had buried the ship in sand, under sand dunes, but also the last timbers might have been burnt by whalers and locals who were in need of firewood. In July 1999, Mr. Des Williams discovered some wood buried three metres underneath the sand dunes between Warrnambool and Port Fairy.

Planning Of A Rich Media Project For Digital Portfolio

Project management as the building blocks of various types of businesses holds important roles in defining the success or failure of these businesses, whether it is used in a daily basis or in used in lighthouse events only. As the environment changes however, project management need to face new challenges and issues brought upon it by shifting trends in the society.Concerning project management, this paper discusses how the trends have shifted and what issues are presented in the face of project management science. In the end, I will describe how project managers have responded to those challenges and create new business models and new project management initiatives.I. Case Studies and FindingsII.1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Changing Environment: Current Trends and IssuesLimited ResourcesOne of the most obvious shifts in project management trends is the limited resources provided for each project. With the level of competition and professionalism expected by investors, project managers now ar e expected to do more with less. Tighter budgets, less time and fewer resources are some of the challenges faced by modern project challenges. Using those limited resources, project managers are expected to create products and provide services which are faster, cheaper and better. The basis of the competition is now rooted in two dimensions, time-based considerations and cost based considerations. The cost based dimension has been around since the beginning, but the increasing importance of time-based considerations is the new competitive edge. Companies or project managers today are demanded to control their cost using project management techniques and to deliver product or service to the market faster than anyone.Developing a consistent approachSurveyed executives and project professionals reported that developing a consistent approach to managing projects is one of the most common challenges in today’s project management. 24% respondents believed that designing the approac h toward a project management strategy is the crucial first step. Any other steps are built upon the success of this first step. It is the foundation of the whole project. If it is managed successfully, any other steps would run smoothly in aftermath.However, due to the unpredictability of situations, project managers can sometimes decide to change their approach toward the project. More often than not, this action does not deliver solutions to the problems, but rather generate confusion and baffle the people who already have their mindset tune-in to the preliminary approach (‘Research’, 2003)Managing multiple projectsAlmost 20% of the respondents believed that it is the allocation of resources that become their huge challenge in managing their projects. The difficulty level is enhanced once the project managers must manage multiple projects at once. One of the preliminary considerations project managers must made is about choosing the right projects. 17% of the executi ve and project professionals interviewed stated that one of the most common issues for companies is that they choose too many projects to manage or they choose the wrong projects.Deciding to manage projects without the right basis of considerations will generate flawed end-result and thus flawed corporate reputation. In managing multiple projects, the extent of the challenges, whether they are from the cost-based considerations or the time-based considerations is enhanced significantly (‘Research’, 2003).Limited visibility of project activitiesAnother important challenge and the one that is increasingly discussed in recent years is the limited visibility of project activities. Increasing scope of project, complexity and increasing need to be cost and time effective enhanced the necessity to have clear visibility throughout the project duration and processes. Nevertheless, such a visibility is seldom available because it requires significant amount of investment in IT in itiatives and staff training.Companies rely on project management more.About 72.4 projects within a company is lasting less than one year, which makes them eligible for implementing the project management science 51% of these projects are considered complex or highly complex. Almost 60% of companies surveyed manage projects at the enterprise level. 44% of these surveyed companies already have an established project office and a center of excellence for project managers (Research, 2003).II.2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Requirement: The New Business ModelsII.2.1.   Improving the Project ManagerIn order to deal with the changes in today’s marketplace, companies rely on project management sciences a lot more than yesterday. This is considered a logical step because managers discovered that project management science contain a significant competitive advantage to other concept of management. Companies are now supplying their project managers with tools to manage projects efficiently, like seminars and training in project management sciences, to learn about scheduling techniques like Gantt charts and PERT diagrams. Project managers are also taught to plan ahead, be proactive yet flexible and creative in anticipating problems due to changes within the environment.II.2.2.   Developing the Project TeamProject teams also received significant raining steps. These training steps are performed to give projects teams the capability to write project specifications, estimating time, developing budgets and planning procedures within the project. The training will enhance the efficiency of the project team in planning the project. The more efficient the planning process, the easier the implementation of the project becomes. Afterwards, team members are taught to develop teamwork and team pride to help ensure the project’s success. As the level of competition increases, businesses realize the increasing value of providing project managers and project teams with those type s of trainingII.2.3.   Developing the Information Technology Department  In order to fulfill the need to have project visibility across its processes, companies and project managers turn to Information Technology. IT initiatives are the choice of 77% project managers having been surveyed, Compare to 69% believing that methodology improvement and staff training are the most crucial problems (Chaakravarty, nd).II.2.4.   OutsourcingHaving limited resources and time to manage projects efficiently, companies begin considering outsourcing the project management systems. More than 50% of companies surveyed stated that they only have 1-9 project managers on the company’s staff, others are outsourced. 25% of these surveyed companies have 10-25 project managers on staff and 39% of the companies surveyed fully outsourced their project management function or considering it.

A Guide to Socratic Ignorance

Socratic ignorance refers, paradoxically, to a kind of knowledge–a person’s frank acknowledgment of what they don’t know.  It is captured by the well-known statement: â€Å"I know only one thing–that I know nothing.†Ã‚  Paradoxically, Socratic ignorance is also referred to as Socratic wisdom. Socratic Ignorance in Platos Dialogues This sort of humility regarding what one knows is associated with the Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BCE) because he is portrayed displaying it in several of Plato’s dialogs.  The clearest statement of it is in the Apology, the speech Socrates gave in his defense when he was prosecuted for corrupting the youth and impiety.  Socrates recounts how his friend Chaerephon was told by the Delphic oracle that no human was wiser than Socrates.  Socrates was incredulous since he didn’t consider himself wise.  So he set about trying to find someone wiser than himself.  He found plenty of people who were knowledgeable about specific matters such as how to make shoes, or how to pilot a ship.  But he noticed that these people also thought that they were similarly expert about other matters too when they clearly were not.  He eventually drew the conclusion that in one sense, at least, he was wiser than others in that he did not think he knew what he did not in fact know.  In short, he was aware of his own ignorance. In several other of Plato’s dialogs, Socrates is shown confronting someone who thinks they understand something but who, when questioned rigorously about it, turns out not to understand it at all.  Socrates, by contrast, admits from the outset that he does not know the answer to whatever question is being posed.   In the Euthyphro, for instance, Euthyphro is asked to define piety.  He makes five attempts, but Socrates shoots each one down.  Euthyphro, however, does not admit that he is as ignorant as Socrates; he simply rushes off at the end of the dialog like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, leaving Socrates still unable to define piety (even though he is about to be tried for impiety). In the Meno, Socrates is asked by Meno if virtue can be taught and responds by saying that he doesn’t know because he doesn’t know what virtue is.  Meno is astonished, but I turn out that he is unable to define the term satisfactorily. After three failed attempts, he complains that Socrates has benumbed his mind, rather as a stingray numbs its prey.  He used to be able to speak eloquently about virtue, and now he can’t even say what it is.  But in the next part of the dialog, Socrates shows how clearing one’s mind of false ideas, even if it leaves one in a state of self-confessed ignorance, is a valuable and even necessary step if one is to learn anything.  He does this by showing how a slave boy can only solve a mathematical problem once he has recognized that the untested beliefs he already had were false. The Importance of Socratic Ignorance This episode in the Meno highlights the philosophical and historical importance of Socratic ignorance.  Western philosophy and science only get going when people begin to question dogmatically help beliefs.  The best way to do this is to start out with a skeptical attitude, assuming one is not certain about anything.  This approach was most famously adopted by Descartes (1596-1651) in his Meditations. In actual fact, it is questionable how feasible it is to maintain an attitude of Socratic ignorance on all matters.  Certainly, Socrates in the ​Apology doesn’t maintain this position consistently.  He says, for instance, that he is perfectly certain that no real harm can befall a good man.  And he is equally confident that â€Å"the unexamined life is not worth living.†