Product-Service System Development for 3D Customized Production in Hospitals

Customized prosthesis and orthosis (P&O) manufacturing is growing as a market advantage and contributes to the positive impact on patient’s wellbeing. Three-dimensional printing allows a flexible manufacturing, adapting different characteristics according to the patient’s requirements while increasing the device functionality. Considering the relationship between the customized P&O and the extended attendance that patients need, this manufacturing approach is requiring a new system which can consider not only the product but also an integrated service. Despite the huge potential that product-service system (PSS) could have in healthcare industry, there is a lack of research around the topic. PSS is a supporting network which is related to the product that generates value while satisfying the customer’s needs. The objective of this paper is to identify representative PSS models applied to the healthcare context and find a proposal that can be applied to 3D printing customized P&O. Pursuing this objective, a review on PSS business models applied to healthcare was driven. This paper aims the integration of the business models proposed in the literature, to mitigate the limitations presented in the current state-of-the-art.