Digitalisation of spare parts provision: co-evolution of digital service providers and original equipment manufacturers

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) face challenges associated with spare parts provision, such as high inventory, and missed deliveries due to inventory obsolescence or long supplier lead times. Digitalisation of spare parts, enabled by additive manufacturing, address some of these challenges. In this digitalisation of spare parts the roles of digital service providers (DSP) and the OEMs co-evolve. We examine three DSPs developing services for their OEM customers and their value offering from the perspective of three user organisations, as well as two OEMs not using the services. We find that OEMs turn to the service providers for support to overcome a gap in their information processing needs and internal capabilities in the exploration stage. The use of the DSP addresses a large initial capability gap in information processing for identifying the opportunity to digitalise spare parts. Over time, once digital spare parts operations have been established, OEMs can begin to digitalise their spare parts during the product design stage. This reduces the demand for the exploration services initially offered by the DSP, such as digital scanning of parts and reverse engineering. To adapt, DSPs must explore new service opportunities as OEMs develop their digitalisation capabilities in the product design process.