Establishing Sustainable Business Models Through Subscription in Machinery and Plant Engineering

• Published in: 2024 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) pp. 1 - 9
• Main Authors: Riesener, Michael, Keuper, Alexander, BoBmann, Carsten, Smerz, Jonathan, Schulz-Isenbeck, Timm, Schuh, Gunther
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: PICMET 04.08.2024
• Subjects: Adaptation models; Biological system modeling; Companies; Legislation; Manufacturing; Production; Raw materials
• DOI: 10.23919/PICMET64035.2024.10653390

Companies in machinery and plant engineering make a significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and the use of raw materials. Therefore, they have decisive poten-tial to make better use of resources, increase efficiency and avoid overproduction with regard to a more sustainable economy. How-ever, sustainability is not necessarily an end in itself for companies and must therefore be motivated by incentives. In addition to po-litical legislation and its mandatory implementation of sustainabil-ity initiatives, there must also be financial incentives for compa-nies. In this way, sustainable companies can be successful in a competitive environment in the long term. By using subscription mod-els, companies can establish a long-term and stronger connection to the products and customers. The resulting longer and more in-tensive use of the utilized resources or the extension of the life cycle through upgrades make a significant contribution to sustainabil-ity. This paper therefore examines the effect of subscription mod-els on the establishment of sustainable business models. On the one hand, interdependencies between subscription models and sus-tainable business models are determined. On the other hand, these interdependencies are analyzed concerning influencing factors for sustainability.