The importance of service business has been increasing recently in the Japanese manufacturing industry because of shortening the production periods at original factory while extending the service and maintenance periods at the customer site. This is accompanied by shifting added value generation from production to customer service in the industry and social infrastructure field. Therefore several business models for customer service have been enjoying wide acceptance in the Japanese manufacturing industry since the middle of the 20th century. However, today's service business involves many serious issues of service quality, economical justification of the balance between products and services, investment and return of investment for training of staff and facilities, etc. The paper discusses improvement of the service business today, future business models for win-win solutions between product suppliers, service companies and customers, as well as prospects for co-operation between the 2nd and 3rd sector industries.
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