Project

About Us

What is a Product Service System?

A PSS, short for Product Service System, is a business model in which (as the name suggests) users are offered a product in combination with a service in exchange for a fee, which is often subscription based or paid for per used time unit. The products can be rented and used by the user, which is often more profitable than buying the actual product itself when the user does not use the product often. In our case, users can rent an umbrella for a few hours instead of buying one or in case they forgot to bring one.

What kind of tools were used for the project?

For our project multiple tools were offered. Most of the tools were used in various ways. Underneath there is a list with the tools which were used and their usages:

Infographics: This tool was used to create infographics, which convey information in a visually pleasing and easy-to-understand manner. Examples of infographics which were used were for example the workflow for the users when renting an umbrella, or how they should return a broken umbrella.
Instruction Design: This tool is in a way similar to the Infographics tool, although it is more focused on conveying a step-by-step instruction on how to use or assemble a product in the clearest way possible, instead of making it aesthetically pleasing. For our final PSS, little instruction design was needed. However, in a prior version of our umbrella the user had to assemble a disposable umbrella before they could use it. Although the assembly was not very difficult and only required two steps, an instruction was made to make sure the user did not misunderstand the assembly process.
Website Development: Website development was one of the most used tools in this project. As the name suggests the tool explained how to set up and run a professional looking website. Using HTML and CSS a website was created for our PSS. The website is split up into two parts: a “mockup” website for users and customers, and a part in which our report was shown
Expert Meeting: The expert meeting was used to gain information about topics which were quite unfamiliar to us. Examples of topics are determining prices and different workflow frameworks. The expert meeting also was a good way to gain feedback for our progress.
Collaborative Design: This tool focused mainly on working together during the design process. This tool was applied mainly during our meetings and within our way of communicating, to make sure everyone was on the same page and up to date on each other's work.
Maintanance: As can be expected, every product needs to be maintained in some way. Since our PSS includes dispensers which are expected to be positioned in the same place for quite a long time, they also need to be repaired when some parts are broken and need to be checked on this regularly. The maintenance tool taught us how to do this efficiently and what types of maintenance suits our product the best.
User Interface Design & Simulation: The UIDS tool teaches how to make a mockup of a user interface. In our case the tool was used to create the UI of the application which users need to be able to make use of our system.

What is a Product Service System?

Our proposal for our PSS, Greenbrella, is a service in which users can rent umbrellas from dispensers which are located all over the city. Greenbrella works through an app and dispensers. The users create an account, and by logging in on the app the user can see their credit and where the dispensers are located. The user pays a small price to rent an umbrella for half a day up to four days. The user also pays a deposit beforehand, which they get back when they return the umbrella on time. When the user breaks an umbrella, a fee will be withdrawn from their account. The dispensers will be located at crowded places. Since we wanted to keep the scope of our project reasonable, we focused on operating our PSS in one city for now: Amsterdam. The dispensers will be located at 30 hotspots all around the city so a potential user is always close by one of our dispensers. A majority of the locations of our dispensers include train stations, but also other types of locations such as universities, hospitals and the most crowded squares in Amsterdam will be provided with one. When someone uses our service regularly, they can choose to take out a subscription. With a subscription, the user gets the first 24 hours of rental free and pays a fixed price per month instead of paying per usage time. The umbrellas are also used as an advertisement platform. Companies can pay us a certain amount of money to print their logo on a certain amount of umbrellas. When the umbrellas are used, people all over the city can see the logo.

Value Proposition

One of the main advantages of using our PSS instead of buying a cheap umbrella is the convenience. Especially in the Netherlands, it is not rare for the weather to suddenly take a turn for the worse after it has been nice for a couple days or even hours. Instead of buying an umbrella which needs to be carried around all day, our PSS offers an umbrella which can be rented for a price which is cheaper than the cost of a normal umbrella, and can be returned when it is not needed anymore. This way users do not have the inconvenience of carrying around an umbrella the whole day. The user can adapt quickly to the weather since there is always a dispenser nearby (in the cities we are planning to operate). Next to the convenience, our PSS is also very eco-friendly. Our umbrellas are produced by Ginkgo, which is an eco sustainable umbrella. Next to the green production process of the umbrellas, they also have the advantage of being recyclable and even reusable. When one of our umbrellas breaks, they get sent back to Gingko. Over at Gingko, the umbrella can either be repaired and sent back to be used again, or the materials can be recycled. This way our carbon footprint is immensely smaller than the cheap disposable umbrellas which can be bought.