Development of sales invoicing process in industrial services

The objective of this Master’s thesis is to find ways to streamline the invoicing process of the case company. In order to streamline the process, the bottlenecks and development areas of the present invoicing process needs to be identified. The bottlenecks are based on interviews made to personnel. The thesis also offers solutions to overcome the identified bottlenecks. The problem is the slowness of the invoicing process which should get rid off. The slow invoicing process causes delays in obtaining payments. There are many reasons for the slowness and inefficiency of the invoicing process. One of the biggest reasons is that the information systems are not deployed entirely. It causes additional work for everyone. Practices with the customers affect also to the smooth flow of invoicing. The contracts determine when the customer can be invoiced but also work approvals, missing work orders and customer’s own invoicing basis slow the process. The fastest and cheapest solution is to deploy the systems better and do things correctly. Thus duplicated work would decrease and resources would be saved. The work allocation should be modified and the practices with customer should be influenced too. In the future the meaning of IT should be highlighted and new devices exploited.

Strategic supply lead time management. Case Nokia Networks, Hardware Services

Teollisuuden palveluiden on huomattu olevan potentiaalinen lisätulojen lähde. Teollisuuden palveluiden dynaamisessa maailmassa räätälöinti ja kyky toimia nopeasti ovat kriittisiä asiakastyytyväisyyden ja kilpailuedun luomisprosessin osia. Toimitusketjussa käytetyn ajan lyhentämisellä voidaan saavuttaa sekä paremmat vasteajat, että alhaisemmat kokonaiskustannukset. Tutkielman tavoitteena on kuvata teollisuuden palveluiden dynaamista ympäristöä: asiakastarvetta, sekä mahdollisuuksia kaventaa pyydetyn ja saavutetun toimitusajan välistä eroa. Tämä toteutetaan pääosin strategisen toimitusajan hallinnan keinoin. Langattomien tietoliikenneverkkojen operaattorit haluavat vähentää ydinosaamiseensa kuulumatomiin toimintoihin, kuten ylläpitoon sitoutuneita pääomia. Tutkielman case osiossa varaosapalvelujen toimitusketjun kysyntä-, materiaali- ja informaatiovirtoja analysoidaan niin kvalitatiivisten haastatteluiden, sisäisten dokumenttien, kuin kvantitatiivisten tilastollisten menetelmienkin avulla. Löydöksiä peilataan vallitsevaa toimitusketjun ja ajanhallinnan paradigmaa vasten. Tulokset osoittavat, että vahvan palvelukulttuurin omaksuminen ja kokonaisvaltainen toimitusketjun tehokkuuden mittaaminen ovat ajanhallinnan lähtökohtia teollisuuden palveluissa.

Developing smart services by Internet of Things in manufacturing business

Manufacturing companies have passed from selling uniquely tangible products to adopting a service-oriented approach to generate steady and continuous revenue streams. Nowadays, equipment and machine manufacturers possess technologies to track and analyze product-related data for obtaining relevant information from customers’ use towards the product after it is sold. The Internet of Things on Industrial environments will allow manufacturers to leverage lifecycle product traceability for innovating towards an information-driven services approach, commonly referred as “Smart Services”, for achieving improvements in support, maintenance and usage processes. The aim of this study is to conduct a literature review and empirical analysis to present a framework that describes a customer-oriented approach for developing information-driven services leveraged by the Internet of Things in manufacturing companies. The empirical study employed tools for the assessment of customer needs for analyzing the case company in terms of information requirements and digital needs. The literature review supported the empirical analysis with a deep research on product lifecycle traceability and digitalization of product-related services within manufacturing value chains. As well as the role of simulation-based technologies on supporting the “Smart Service” development process. The results obtained from the case company analysis show that the customers mainly demand information that allow them to monitor machine conditions, machine behavior on different geographical conditions, machine-implement interactions, and resource and energy consumption. Put simply, information outputs that allow them to increase machine productivity for maximizing yields, save time and optimize resources in the most sustainable way. Based on customer needs assessment, this study presents a framework to describe the initial phases of a “Smart Service” development process, considering the requirements of Smart Engineering methodologies.