To Use or Not to Use: A Conceptual Model for Sensing User Values to Prevent Early Product Replacement
Apoorv Naresh Bhatt, Shakuntala Acharya, David Inkermann · Procedia CIRP · 2026
Throughout a product’s lifecycle, vast amounts of data can be harnessed to gain valuable insights that inform design decisions, enhance production efficiency, and strengthen product competitiveness. With the advent of Industry 4.0 technologies, product-related data, during the use phase, is easily captured. This, in turn, enables more responsive and optimized product-service systems, predictive maintenance models, and iterative product generation cycles. However, we cannot yet answer - why do users discontinue use of fully functional products, or choose to replace them? This premature discontinuation or replacement undermines the product’s potential utility and has a significant environmental impact. Presently, the understanding of user motivations and subjective behaviour towards sustained use is inadequately captured and is limited to user satisfaction feedback surveys that emphasise product performance aspects. But it still does not reveal the deeper intrinsic and extrinsic motivators that may prompt product replacement or discontinuation. The primary contribution of this paper lies in proposing a conceptual model that explains the replacement process of Electrical and Electronic Equipment used by consumers, users’ value systems, and methods for measuring these aspects. It offers researchers and designers a means to capture intersubjective user values and analyse product consumption patterns and behaviours during the usage phase. Within the context of Cyber-Physical-Social Systems, this framework provides a foundational approach for enhancing data-driven design aimed at extending and sustaining product lifespans. It sets the frame of reference for further work in user-data-driven design for sustained product life.