Industrial Services Characterization for Bidding Process

International audienceWhen responding to call for tenders, many bidding companies offer services. This paper focuses on how to model industrial services during the bidding process to be able to easily develop them. A product offer configuration model is presented, then a reflection about the extension of this model to service offers is conducted. A study of the literature about service definition is dealt and services characteristics are identified. Their impact on the product offer model is analyzed and new characteristics are introduced. This work makes possible to propose a typology to adapt the product offer model to services

Configuration knowledge modeling: How to extend configuration from assemble/make to order towards engineer to order for the bidding process

The bidding process is one of the most important phases for system contractors. A successful bid implies defining and implementing attractive and realistic systems solutions that fulfil customer expectations. An additional challenge arises with the increase in systems diversity resulting from growing customization needs. As a result, for standard customizing offers, bidders find good quality support with configuration software for assemble/make-to-order situations. But when requirements exceed the standard offers, bidders need extended support to fulfil Engineering-to-Order requirements. In this context, this article shows how configuration knowledge models, which support configuration in assemble/make-to-order situations (AMTO), can be extended and used in engineer-to-order situations (ETO). Modeling is achieved assuming that the configuration problem is considered as a constraint satisfaction problem. Six key requirements that differentiate ETO from AMTO are identified and modeling extensions are proposed and discussed. An example illustrates all the contributions

Product v Service system configuration: a generic knowledge-based model for commercial offers

At a time when modes of consumption are rapidly evolving, consumer attitudes and expectations are changing. Today, customers want more and more products and services that can be customised to their needs. Furthermore, they are more willing to pay for usage of a product rather than ownership. On the other hand, companies are adding more and more services to the products they are bringing to market in order to create added value and differentiate themselves from their competitors. To adapt to these new market trends, companies now have to offer their customers a more sophisticated catalog of solutions, in both product and services, including all conceivable combinations of the two. The aim of this article is to propose a generic knowledge-based model, dedicated to commercial offer configuration which is able to cope with the whole variety of solutions a company can deliver. To our knowledge, although some works on product configuration, service and product-service system configuration exist, none of them is generic enough to support product, service and product-service configuration at the same time when defining commercial offers. In this article, after giving a state-of-the-art assessment of product and service configurations, the need for a generic model able to cover the whole range and diversity of commercial offers is established, a knowledge-based model is defined and its relevance is demonstrated on seven use-cases coming from secondary and tertiary sector companies

Configuration and Response to calls for tenders: an open bid configuration model

During bidding process, bidders have to submit offers which will suit the customers' requirements. The OPERA project aims at building a decision support tool to help bidders to design offers using CSP and compare them on orignial indicators. The objective is (1) to help bidder to have the same routine for bid answer-ings (2) to help them to design more accurate responses and more efficiently. One of the major tasks during bidding process is offer elaboration, which is in our case, 90% a configuration problem and 10% an innovative design one. Four industrial partners are part of the OPERA project: two in the secondary sector and the two others in tertiary one. This paper presents the first results of this project for open bidding configuration. Therefore, we have built a first version of an open generic bidding model which gathers three types of offers data: (1) context characterization data, (2) data defining the product or service and (3) data defining its delivery process, in case of success. Context data allow to characterize the customer profile, the call for tender characteristics, the bidder profile and the environmental factors. The product is decomposed on subsystems and components using a bill of materials and we propose some tracks to extend our model to services. The process is composed of activities, characterized by a couple (resources, workload). This model has been tested on one use case for each industrial partner. This paper is illustrated by a generic instance of a bike open bidding configuration

A Methodology for Implementing a Product-Centred Bid Model for Suppliers

Early phases of product development are critical for next phases and impact the product definition. During bid process, suppliers generate offers for a customer that must both meet customer's requirements and be realizable in terms of technical aspects, costs and due date. Our aim is to propose a methodology for implementing a generic bid model, composed of context parameters, customer's requirements, the product i.e. technical solution, its delivery process, and associated risks. Key Performance Indicators allow to evaluate different solutions. The bid model is exploited with two different approaches. First, we use Constraint Satisfaction Problems to formalize expert knowledge and identify variables/constraints and relations. Second, we use case database to reuse past experiences. This model and the methodology are applied with a company developing harbour cranes. An initialisation phase allows to define existing bid process. Then, the generic model is adapted through a specialisation phase, using specific knowledge from company's experts. Finally, the specific model is implemented and tested in an implementation phase. Future work will be focused on a software tool development

ISIEM: a methodology to deploy a knowledge-based system to support bidding process

When responding to calls for tenders, companies must elaborate on relevant bids relative to the needs and expectations of customers (for example, in terms of price and delay). We built and deployed a knowledge-based system (KBS) to aid companies when developing bids. Based on a pre-defined generic bid model, a methodology to support companies when deploying the KBS is proposed in this paper. To capture, formalize, and reuse knowledge relevant to bids, a combination of several approaches, such as taxonomy, constraint satisfaction problem, and case-based reasoning, is proposed. The methodology is composed of five steps: Initialization, Specialization, Implementation, Exploitation, and Maintenance. A case study from a company building electrical parts of harbor lifting devices illustrates our proposal and allows validating the proposed methodology.Outils logiciels et ProcEssus pour la Réponse à Appel d'Offre

Industrial Services Characterization for Bidding Process

When responding to call for tenders, many bidding companies offer services. This paper focuses on how to model industrial services during the bidding process to be able to easily develop them. A product offer configuration model is presented, then a reflection about the extension of this model to service offers is conducted. A study of the literature about service definition is dealt and services characteristics are identified. Their impact on the product offer model is analyzed and new characteristics are introduced. This work makes possible to propose a typology to adapt the product offer model to services.Outils logiciels et ProcEssus pour la Réponse à Appel d'Offre

Méthodologie d'exploitation d'un modèle produit-processus en réponse à appel d'offres

En réponse à appel d’offres, l’élaboration d’une solution technique, le chiffrage des livrables et l’estimation d’un délai de livraison sont essentiels. Dans un contexte concurrentiel accru où les clients expriment un fort besoin de personnalisation et de délais courts, les entreprises soumissionnaires ont besoin d’outils et méthodes de conception pour rester compétitives. Le projet ANR OPERA propose d’outiller ces entreprises soumissionnaires pour les aider lors de l’élaboration d’offres. Nos travaux portent sur la mise en oeuvre d’un modèle générique d’offre produit-processus à l’aide à la fois de techniques pour la résolution de problèmes de satisfaction de contraintes et pour le retour d’expériences. Cet article présente ensuite une méthodologie d’exploitation de ce modèle, décomposée en cinq phases : Initialisation, Spécialisation, Implémentation, Exploitation et Maintien et actualisation. La phase d’Initialisation permet de démarrer le déploiement de cet outillage modèle/méthode dans l’entreprise. La phase de Spécialisation explique comment passer du modèle générique au modèle spécifique de l’entreprise. Le modèle est implémenté dans l’entreprise via la phase d’Implémentation. La phase d’Exploitation explique comment utiliser le modèle pour élaborer une offre, et la phase Maintien et actualisation concerne la mise à jour du modèle. Un cas d’étude tiré du projet OPERA est présenté

Product service system configuration: a generic knowledge-based model for commercial offers

At a time when modes of consumption are rapidly evolving, consumer attitudes and expectations are changing. Today, customers want more and more products and services that can be customised to their needs. Furthermore, they are more willing to pay for usage of a product rather than ownership. On the other hand, companies are adding more and more services to the products they are bringing to market in order to create added value and differentiate themselves from their competitors. To adapt to these new market trends, companies now have to offer their customers a more sophisticated catalog of solutions, in both product and services, including all conceivable combinations of the two. The aim of this article is to propose a generic knowledge-based model, dedicated to commercial offer configuration which is able to cope with the whole variety of solutions a company can deliver. To our knowledge, although some works on product configuration, service and product-service system configuration exist, none of them is generic enough to support product, service and product-service configuration at the same time when defining commercial offers. In this article, after giving a state-of-the-art assessment of product and service configurations, the need for a generic model able to cover the whole range and diversity of commercial offers is established, a knowledge-based model is defined and its relevance is demonstrated on seven use-cases coming from secondary and tertiary sector companies.Outils logiciels et ProcEssus pour la Réponse à Appel d'Offre

Knowledge retrieval for configuring risks when answering calls to tenders or direct customer demands

This short article provides the first ideas and results about the configuration of risks when answering tenders or direct customer demands. Indeed, when an offer is defined, it becomes more and more important to analyze possibilities of risks occurrence and their consequences. Most of the time, this analysis is conducted manually thanks to a risk expert. In this paper, we propose to assist the expert with a risk configuration tool that relies on a knowledge base and that allows to define and evaluate: (i) the risk probability, (ii) the main risk impacts and (iii) the interests of various corrective and preventive actions to mitigate it. We first detail the problem. Then we propose a generic model of risks for calls for tenders. Then we describe some knowledge retrieval queries that support the configuration of risk characteristics. As preliminary studies, we will not be able to discuss hard theoretical results but should be able to show a nice a demo of a first software prototype.Outils logiciels et ProcEssus pour la Réponse à Appel d'Offre