Students developed a service blueprint for remote plant advisory services

The students collaborated with Sumitomo SHI FW (SFW) to design a service blueprint for the company’s remote advisory services for boiler plants. The team combined expertise from multiple disciplines: Darius Stanisor (Advanced Energy Solutions) and Amirreza Jafariandehkordi (Computer Science) from the School of Science, Giulia Rinaldo (International Design Business Management) from the School of Arts and Design, and Architecture and Vee Ng (Business Analytics) from the School of Business. The project was conducted under the academic supervision of Associate Professor Esko Penttinen from the School of Business. 

The project was structured around three key phases: conducting a situation analysis, developing a scalable service design, and creating a go-to market plan.

The team delivered a comprehensive overview of SFW’s current remote advisory service landscape through desk research and empirical analysis. A total of 14 semi-structured interviews were carried out with both internal stakeholders and customers, enabling the team to identify key challenges and opportunities from all perspectives. Building on these key insights, the team developed a detailed service blueprint that outlines the remote advisory workflow, decision-making processes, and supporting systems required to deliver the service effectively. To support implementation after the project, a go-to-market plan was created to guide the rollout and scaling of the service. 

A key priority throughout this project was to ensure that the proposed solutions could be integrated into SFW’s existing systems, enabling meaningful improvements without significant operational changes or stakeholder resistance. Collectively, these results provide SFW with actionable recommendations and a clear direction for developing and expanding its remote advisory service offering. 

A valuable multidisciplinary learning experience 

For the student team, the project offered a valuable opportunity to collaborate across disciplines and apply what they had learned in their studies to a real-world context. 

‘I knew very little about boilers before this project, so it was exciting to learn about a completely new industry. I really enjoyed working with the team and bringing in my perspectives as a business student,’ says Vee Ng. 

‘Getting to see a real boiler plant and talking to people who work on operating and maintaining it was a fascinating experience, and it also taught me a lot. I felt that this project dealt with far more practical matters than the things I had learned during my studies about boilers. Getting to know the company and how it works was the real highlight for me. It gave me a glimpse into the working life of engineers whom I look up to,’ says Darius Stanisor.

Amirreza Jafariandehkordi has similar thoughts with Darius saying that for most of his studies in computer science, the focus has been quite theoretical. ‘This project offered a more practical approach that I had not experienced before. Visiting a boiler plant, talking directly to industry professionals, and gathering insights from different stakeholders were especially insightful for me, and it is something I will not forget. Working closely with my teammates and our supervisor to address a real-world problem made this a remarkable learning experience for me.’

Giulia Rinaldo says that with her design background, stepping into the world of industrial boiler services was outside her comfort zone, but that unfamiliarity became one of the most valuable aspects of the project. 

‘It pushed me to rethink how my design perspective could work in such a technical setting and to explore how service design can support complex operations. Working closely with the team, our supervisor, and Sumitomo created a very supportive environment for learning. The openness from everyone involved made the whole experience genuinely inspiring.’

SFW highly satisfied with the student team’s results 

SFW expressed strong satisfaction with the outcomes of the collaboration. 

‘We had certain expectations at the beginning of this project, and the student team was able to validate our ideas. We can now move forward without significant investments in new tools or systems when implementing the solutions. We are extremely satisfied with the results,’ says Vice President Mario van den Heuvel from SFW. 

Academic supervisor Associate Professor Esko Penttinen also highlights the value of this project. He says that it is always exciting to see students from different backgrounds coming together to work on a project like this. 

‘I am very proud of what the students achieved and feel confident that the project offered them valuable learning experience. From the supervisor perspective, it was interesting to get a better understanding of the various social issues that are connected to the somewhat technical processes of remotely servicing the boilers.’