In the past, customers invested in high cost, long service-life products. Today, they demand complex product-services capable of adapting to new customer goals and rapidly changing markets. The Use-it-wisely project enables European manufacturers to operate successfully within this new paradigm. The project investigates a new business model that implements continuous product-service adaptation through a sequence of small innovative steps. It demonstrates that product-service agility and extended service life realized in this way is more viable than large and infrequent upgrades in terms of cost, duration and environmental impact. Use-it-wisely develops and demonstrates the adaptation platform consisting of the following three elements:

1. multi-disciplinary actors-product-service system model;
2. adaptation mechanism based on the knowledge and skills of all actors involved with the system;
3. interactive collaborative distributed environment, where the actors work out the adaptation steps.

The scientific breakthrough is achieved by creating and validating a holistic systems engineering structure that combines human-machine systems, product lifecycle management, business and organizational dynamics and lifecycle assessment.

The industry-led consortium is founded on complementary clusters in six key industry sectors:

• energy
• machinery
• space
• office workplace
• vehicles
• ship building

Use-it-wisely enables new business for the manufacturers and their suppliers, subcontractors and open new opportunities for the customers. It increases their competitive advantage by means of product-service agility, lower costs, shorter lead times, and reduced environmental impact.

Finally, it helps to transform people’s knowledge and skills into product-service value thus strengthening Europe’s global competitiveness and securing domestic employment.

With Use-it-wisely, the more the product-service is used, the better it gets.

Project coordinator is VTT Research Center of Finland.

Other partners in the project are:

• TECNATOM S.A. (Spain)
• UNIVERSIDAD DE MALAGA (Spain)
• THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (United Kingdom)
• METSO MINERALS OY (Finland)
• RD VELHO OY (Finland)
• THALES ALENIA SPACE ITALIA SPA (Italy)
• ADVANCED LOGISTICS TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING CENTER SPA (Italy)
• VOLVO TECHNOLOGY AB (Sweden)
• CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLA AB (Sweden)
• M. MOSCHATOS – K. STRATIS OE (Greece)
• INTERNATIONAL NAVAL SURVEYS BUREAU (Greece)
• NAYTILIAKES METAFORIKES KAI EPIKOINONIAKES EPIXEIRISEIS SEABILITY ETAIREIA PERIORISMENIS EUTHINIS (Greece)
• INSTITUTE OF COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS (Greece)
• NEDERLANDSE ORGANISATIE VOOR TOEGEPAST NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK – TNO (Netherlands)
• GISPEN INTERNATIONAL BV (Netherlands)
• BERNER FACHHOCHSCHULE (Switzerland)
• C.C.I.C.C. LIMITED (Ireland)
• Hermia Business Development Ltd (Finland)

Project lasted just over 3 years.