Special Issue - Production Planning & Control: Service Science

There is undoubtedly still some scepticism about the emerging discipline we are calling Service Science. With the service sector making up over 75%, by both value and employment, of the economies of western industrialized nations Service Science has an opportunity to fill a gap in relation to providing feasible solutions at a time of increased competition and scarce resources. It was always expected that a focus on Service Science would lead to a much closer relationship between the producer/manufacturer and the customer. The efficient management of services would still need to be complemented by the adoption of techniques that have been successful in production, manufacturing and other areas of business. The research within the Special Issue papers confirms a number of initial perceptions about Service Science. There needs to be an increasing focus on the synchronisation between production and consumption. Organisations need to clearly understand the interaction and integration between the supplier of services and its relation to customer satisfaction. The area that will probably require even more research is how the service sector can take advantage of existing and future information and 478 Editorial communication technology. This will be very interesting as key characteristics of this sector are highly dependent on human factors. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, a significant proportion of organisations must serve customers' needs better than their competitors for the purpose of business survival. It is believed that Service Science can make a real difference to the business world at a time of major turbulence. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.