Professor Tim Baines leads Aston Business School’s research on servitization. He is an international authority on servitization, and works extensively with manufacturers to transform their operations to compete through Product-Service Systems (PSS). He has published over 200 papers across the disciplines of management and engineering, and is amongst the most frequently-cited authors on servitization and Product-Service Systems. He has experience of a wide range of industrial engineering, technology management, and manufacturing management disciplines, and works with the leading companies in his field including Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar, Alstom, MAN and Xerox. His career started with a technician apprenticeship, and has progressed through a variety of industrial and academic positions, including that of Visiting Scholar within the Centre for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of both the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineers and Technologists.

Dr Howard Lightfoot is Manufacturing Systems Consultant and during the past 7 years his work as a university Senior Research Fellow has focussed on the field of Servitization and Product-Service Systems where he has published extensively and is considered to be a leading authority in this area. Along with his co-author he works with the leading companies in his field including Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar, Alstom, MAN and Xerox. He has a First Class Honours Degree and PhD in Physics and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and Technologists. His career began as a lecturer in Electronic Engineering at Loughborough University before moving into industry where he held senior manufacturing operations and management positions within manufacturing companies such as Marconi and the Volex Group and held board level positions in several SMEs supplying Automotive, Defence and Aerospace sectors. He has over 25 years of experience in high technology product development and manufacturing with International business development experience gained in Western Europe, USA and the Far East.