UIW R&D Project

Use-It-Wisely

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.