Service thinking styles in the sustainment of aeronautical product

Abstract

Outcome-base contracts that provide throughlife sustainment solutions for complex systems such as aeronautical product offer "value in use" to the customer. Service is an inherent feature of the sustainment solution where the ultimate objective is to support the client, not just the product. Service satisfaction resides in the mind of the customer and the delivery of fitfor- purpose goods is a necessary but not sufficient condition for satisfaction. The end state of service is an intangible mental concept and service satisfaction is heavily shaped by the context in which the service is received. That context includes the emotional state of mind, its perceptions and preferences, its memories and patterns of unattended automated processing, and its plans for the future. Service satisfaction requires the service provider to have a highly developed concept of the mind of the customer. The desired end state of service provision is trust, wherein the customer seeks repetition of the service.