DEMAT: sustainability assessment of new flexibility-oriented business models in the machine tools industry

New flexibility-oriented business models represent a novelty in business model research. They aim at optimising the management of manufacturing flexibility in turbulent environments through the offering of added-value services by system suppliers. However, they are currently defined at theoretical level and their economic sustainability for customers and suppliers has to be quantitatively demonstrated. In this paper, a methodology to assess the economic performance of flexibility-oriented business models based on probabilistic event-decision trees modelling is presented. The methodology was applied to a real industrial case and simulations were performed to identify win-win conditions that make business models sustainable for customer and supplier. Results allowed to understand which are the main variables determining flexibility-oriented business models' success and they constitute a reference for companies willing to innovate their business model in this direction. © 2014 © 2014 Taylor & Francis.