RepaMobil - Reduction of market barriers for product-service-systems, especially repair- and other household services by setting up central service points at big company sites where a lot of potential customers pass by

Status

completed

Summary

The idea of the project is to bring together services for private households, in particular repair services, in local/regional networks of small and medium-sized service companies and to establish centralised order, acceptance, placement and service points in these networks at major places of employment and business premises and facilities with large numbers of employees and customers respectively (e.g. hospitals, major administrative centres, major industrial enterprises).

The project involved conducting an extensive online survey at the four operational facilities participating in the project in the Graz area (Magna Steyr, Karl Franzens University Graz, Technical University Graz and Joanneum Research) to figure out the level of interest in implementing this kind of business idea. This survey formed the basis for further work on the project. A feasibility study was compiled based on this survey as well as on interviews and other discussions with the stakeholders in the project. This study clarified the issue whether and under what general conditions this kind of business idea (service-logistics model) can be implemented. The sustainability effects (ecological, social and economic) of the business ideas when compared with the respective status quo were subsequently assessed using an existing and slightly adapted assessment tool (INES - Improving New Services). Implementation plans for implementation within the framework of potential subsequent pilot projects on the sites of the participating enterprises were developed based on the ideas for implementation already elaborated and on the results of the feasibility study.

The project results demonstrate that general conditions are favourable for a pilot implementation:

On the demand side, a survey (online surveys of employees at the four major participating enterprises) revealed enormous interest in a repair and acceptance point and in a pilot implementation. The response rate was extremely high (over 1,000 people participated in the survey; between 8.7 and 35.8% per enterprise).

The supply side is dependent on the range of services offered by the regionally based repair service business. Within RepaMobil six service providers from the Graz repair network have expressed an interest in participating in the pilot project that will offer services ranging from EDP/electronic appliances through bicycles to grinding services. The service providers surveyed basically regard the project in a positive light but emphasise that implementation must take the various needs (construction, personnel, infrastructural) of an acceptance/service point into consideration, depending on the range of services offered in each case. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of professional presentation (image improvement, positioning of an individual brand name) and on professional management (logistical, organisational), and on the ancillary services that are rapidly gaining in importance in this service sector.

The experience gained from the RepaMobil project has shown that there is a need for further research, in particular on the factors that are responsible for the success of the range of repair services and on the specific planning of a pilot implementation on a given site since the implementation details can only be clarified in a more in-depth procedural step.

The project has specifically resulted in the desire to implement the project idea at JOANNEUM RESEARCH in the form of focused campaigns (for example, an "electrical appliance day" every three months), commencing in 2007. Work has already begun on the compilation of a blueprint.

Project management

Matthias Neitsch
Arge Abfallvermeidung, Ressourcenschonung und nachhaltige Entwicklung GmbH

Co-workers:

• Mag.a Ulrike Kabosch
  E-Mail: kabosch@arge.at
• Mag.a Alexandra Potzinger
  E-Mail: potzinger@arge.at

Project or cooperation partner

• Mag.a Ingrid Kaltenegger, Mag.a Daniele Haiböck-Sinner
  Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH
  Institut für Nachhaltige Techniken und Systeme - JOINTS
  Elisabethstraße 16 - 18, A-8010 Graz

Matthias Neitsch
Arge Abfallvermeidung, Ressourcenschonung und nachhaltige Entwicklung GmbH
Dreihackengasse 1, A-8020 Graz
Tel.: +43 (316) 712309-0
Fax: +43 (316) 712309-99
Internet: www.arge.at