The service control tower: dilemmas, decisions and a reference architecture for maintenance of (high-value) assets

Complex supply chains require coordination efforts from supply chain partners. The concept of the service control tower plays an essential role in the transition towards Logistics 4.0 and coordination in supply chains. This paper analyses the concept of the (service) control tower. We find different (service) control tower applications in the literature. Some are focused on a specific domain (e.g., transportation and pharmaceutical logistics), while others have a more generic approach. We review available architectures and determine strengths and gaps. Additionally, we find that the construction of inter-organizational systems is complex. We explore the process of collaboration in four phases. Next, we define the service control tower and recognize four levels that organizations construct to create the system. However, in an inter-organizational context, strategic interests cause conflict and result in different technical and business dilemmas. We identify several dilemmas based on experts’ inputs during workshops with companies in constructing a service control tower. Most dilemmas occur in an early stage of development and are often related to the system’s governance, data sharing and IT integration. Finally, we provide potential users, developers and researchers of (service) control towers with a maintenance-oriented architecture for service control towers.