Cyber-Physical Equipment as a Service

To transition from a traditional product-based to a service-based business model, manufacturing companies need a reliable, efficient, and affordable technological infrastructure. Moreover, in this paper we hypothesize that companies going through this transition, should consider themselves not only as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), but as providers of specific Cyber Physical Equipment as a Service (CPE-aaS), following the same digital transformation pathway experienced in other markets, from services to media. First, to clarify our approach, we introduce basic concepts and terminology. Then, general aspects related to the role of edge platforms blending new generation IoT and AI advancements (AIOT), considered as a crucial enabler technology in this context, are discussed. Finally, to illustrate our approach, two successful practical implementations are briefly presented: projects RAISE and PROMENAIDE respectively, addressing Robotic and Medical Equipment servitization for two world leading companies, namely Mitsubishi Electrics™ and ESAOTE™.