Artefacts for the Implementation of Continuous Innovation for Technical Products

The increasing importance of sustainability leads to changing conditions and new requirements for the manufacturing industry. Thereby, the concept of the circular economy plays a decisive role in meeting these challenges. Continuous Innovation (CI) focuses on the ability of a company to continuously improve or renew products or features during the product usage phase. Thereby, it addresses the growing demand for a circular economy through the upgradability of the products, while at the same time increasing customer satisfaction. Although manufacturing companies are aware of the opportunities, the implementation is currently not successful. This paper attempts to close this gap by introducing artefacts for the implementation of CI for technical products. Thereby, the systematic identification of the artefacts focus on the dimensions product, process, business model and organization. Thus, the identified implementation artefacts support manufacturing companies in the implementation and operative realization of continuous innovation.