In recent years, the use of new technologies is rapidly transforming the way working activities are managed and carried out. In the construction industry, in particular, the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is ever increasing as a means to improve the performances of numerous activities. In such a context, several studies have proposed BIM as a key process to augment occupational safety effectively, considering that the construction industry still remains one of the most hazardous working sectors. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the recent research addressing the use of BIM to improve construction safety. A systematic review was performed considering journal papers that appeared in literature in the last decade. The results showed that the most viable and promising research directions concern knowledge-based solutions, design for safety improvement through BIM solutions, transversal applications of BIM, and dynamic visualization and feedback. The findings of this study also indicated that more practical BIM applications are needed, especially focusing on safety training and education, the use of BIM to augment safety climate and resilience, and the development of quantitative risk analysis to better support safety management. Overall, the study provided a comprehensive research synthesis augmenting knowledge on the role of BIM-based tools in construction safety, which can be considered a reference framework to enhance workers’ safety by means of these new technologies.

The service-centered economy has grown considerably in the last few years, shifting from product-based solutions towards service centered offerings, i.e., Product-Service System (PSS) solutions. Such an approach is also emerging in the context of building equipment, where maintenance activities play a fundamental role in facility management. In this field, Building Information Modeling (BIM) based tools are diffusely used to improve the performances of facility management. However, few studies have addressed the above issues while considering a shift from product-based approaches in favor of more advanced servitization models. The study aims at integrating BIM based approaches in a PSS context for the improvement of the management of maintenance operations of building equipment. A general framework for maintenance management has been developed, merging the implementation of the PSS components in a BIM model for the definition of maintenance management. A first application of this methodology to a real case study concerning the elevators of an existing building has shown the efficacy of the proposed approach. The study highlighted the benefits that can be achieved, especially in terms of reduced periods of equipment unavailability, reduced costs and augmented customer satisfaction, while enhancing the information exchange between the PSS actors. Hence, although further research is still needed for its validation, the proposed approach can offer practical insights for the development of promising BIM-based PSS solutions for facility management in the construction industry.

The shift from product ownership to integrated solutions (Product-Service Systems (PSSs)) is expected to lead to a higher customer satisfaction in many cases compared to providing products and services separately. PSS providers are required to add more value to the products they offer, as well as to augment and diversify the services related to these products. To deal with this complex task, this paper proposes a practical methodology to support manufacturers in designing services related to the proper functioning of their products fulfilling customers’ needs and expectations. This approach is based on the synergic use of Quality Function Deployment for PSS (QFDforPSS), Axiomatic Design (AD) and the service blueprint tools, providing a correlation between the customers’ expectations, the PSS components and the PSS modules. The methodology was verified by means of a service modularisation for PSS at a company operating in the biomedical sector. While the proposed approach needs to be validated through further studies in different contexts, its positive results in reducing both the risk of overdesigning and the possibility of creating design conflicts can contribute practically to the scientific knowledge on the development of integrated solutions.

The ability for a product or a service to meet customer needs and requirements efficiently before its market launch is a key-point in design and development activities. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) represents one of the most powerful design methods to achieve such a goal. This study investigates the QFD-based methods proposed in the last two decades, whose use in different ambits of Design for X (DfX) is reported to be effective. We selected most common QFD-based methods, analyzing how designers can implement and coordinate them in design activities effectively throughout their application to an identical case study.