The first step to start this project is to find a concept to work on for the upcoming 2 months. Before starting to brainstorm about all sorts of ideas, specifying what kind of service products there are can be very helpful. So, for the start of this project different -already existing- service products were analyzed and were categorized in arbitrary genre’s. All this would lead to a better understanding of the contents of a service product. The second step was generating a lot of ideas on which a concept could be build. Brainstorming is a creative process and the main rule in such process is that there is no right or wrong in the early stage. After generating a lot of ideas, ideas can be critiqued and the list of ideas can be narrowed down. After narrowing down, the list only contains 3 remaining concepts from which one should be picked:
The range of toothbrushes available in stores today are primarily constructed out of hard synthetic and non recyclable plastics. Consumers are encouraged to replace their toothbrushes every three months as recommended by dentists, or when the toothbrush bristles have become frayed. It is easy to see how many toothbrushes a single person can use in a lifetime, and how much plastic waste is produced in the seemingly mundane yet necessary task of brushing your teeth. It is a task that almost everyone throughout the world partakes in on daily basis, and yet there is still no simple way to recycle toothbrushes nor is there a mass call for biodegradable brushes.
To address this issue in a small yet manageable way, we would create a Product Service System that allows consumers to opt into a environmentally friendly toothbrush subscription service. The primary role of the subscription service would be to send users new toothbrush heads every three months, as well as any other dental hygiene products they ordered via the website, and users are able to return the used toothbrush heads from the previous cycle to receive a small discount on their next order or a free sample, for example. Users are encouraged to return the used toothbrush heads as the bristles are made from nylon and similar materials, and therefore do not biodegrade. By returning the toothbrush heads the company would be able to disassemble the heads, remove the nylon bristles to be broken down and recycled for reuse, and the main head/body would be able to be recycled effectively either through maintenance and reuse or by composting. The consumers would have a choice of two toothbrush body types: bamboo or metal. Bamboo toothbrushes on the market today are biodegradable but nylon bristles must be removed first before recycling or composting the material, which is a difficult and time consuming task. Therefore this task is completed by the toothbrush company. The metal body option is long-lasting, and is able to be repaired or maintained more easily than the bamboo option.
Every year a lot of waste is produced because of repairs and write-offs necessary because of the usage behaviours of people renting equipment. From cars to building equipment, everybody knows the saying “it’s a rental, don’t be gentile”. Because of the lack of implications, renters often don’t care about the long term implications of the way they treat products. For example things like driving away from a traffic light in a cloud of smoke with squealing tires while revving the engine at around 6000RPM. This has no direct implication for the renter as the car will be returned in, at least visually, the same condition.
This principle leads to a lot of unnecessary wear and tear which is not only bad for the environment, it directly increases costs for rental companies (a.o. replacements and maintenance) but also indirectly the rental price for the renters as these prices are directly related to the exploitation costs of rental companies.
To combat this problem we have designed a product service system in which rental equipment, for example rental cars, are equipped with sensors that collect data about a clients driving behaviour. For example g-forces experienced (signifies extreme braking and acceleration and high speed cornering), RPM data (late or wrong shifting) or weight sensors (to record possible overloading). According to this data a profile can be formed of the driver renting the vehicle and an assessment can be made of his driving behaviour, reflecting to a discount for careful drivers and a penalty for more aggressive users. The idea is that these (small) penalties act as an influenceable incentive for drivers to take more care of the vehicle they are renting. This way rental equipment will experience less wear and tear, reducing maintenance costs and expanding lifetime. These lower costs will then be reflected into the price of these rentals. Making this product service system both reduce cost for drivers and rental companies and reduce impact on the environment.
Throughout our lifetime we go through many clothes, during infancy however we go through an insanely large amount of clothes in very short period of time. Infancy is when our growth is at its peak, so during this period we outgrow our clothes very rapidly. Which means that most of these garments are worn only a handful of times. These barely worn clothes create a lot of waste even though they can still be used.
To combat this problem we have designed a service that allows for either crowd sharing or renting products that have a high turnover due to the rapid growth of an infant. This service entails the delivery of a crib containing at least clothes and possibly toys and other items that will be exchanged for a larger crib containing larger clothes and other items more fitting for the age of the child. The returned items are then passed through quality control and intense cleaning and disinfection. This way items that are easily outgrown can be systematically recirculated to reduce waste and reduce costs drastically for consumers. For this idea the service will be the planned delivery and retrieval of goods as well as the recycling process the clothes will go into when they reach the end of their life cycle. Both new parents and the environment will benefit from this product service system, since it will reduce consumer costs and clothing waste significantly.
The first product service is dealing with a toothbrush, a product which everybody uses. A product which always has a demand, which is a great position to be in. However the downside is that, like already stated, removing the nylon heads is a very time consuming task and all but practical. Substituting nylon for a biodegradable material would be a solution such as animal hairs. But this is In contrast with the clean and fresh image you want to have. Nobody wants to clean their teeth with animal hairs.
The second product service is dependant on already existing services such as car rental. This is not a main problem, but is something to take into account. However the real problem is that this product should be super accurate. While driving a car there are many external factors that should be taken into account. This would result in more than one sensor in one single car. Thus, the big downside is the amount and complexity of this concept.
The last and chosen concept is with baby clothes, an infamous problem among parents. To tackle this, multiple age groups’ clothing are required. You can now see the results of how we dealt with this concept.