Digital Product Passport as a Service Channel in Mechanical Engineering: When Products Start Helping Themselves
- Lioba Galliet
- Oct 14
- 2 min read
The Digital Product Passport is evolving into a strategic interface – changing the way companies design, deliver, and differentiate their services.
A product that alerts you to upcoming maintenance. Or recommends the right spare part, before you even know you need it.
Not via hotline, not buried in an Excel sheet or hidden somewhere in a customer portal. But right where it matters most: on the product itself.
That’s the promise of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) — and it’s quietly transforming how companies think about customer relationships, service, and competitive advantage.
Today, more and more companies are asking:What if we stopped seeing the DPP as a data requirement and started using it as a digital service channel?
New Thinking: Digital Product Passport as a Dialogue Interface and Service Channel
A recent guest article by Thomas Rödding on produktion.de captures this shift perfectly: The Digital Product Passport is no longer just a place to store data.
It’s becoming a platform for personalized services, an extension of product communication beyond the point of sale, and a digital touchpoint that creates real value — such as:
Ordering spare parts at exactly the right time
Receiving tailored care instructions based on actual usage
Displaying return options as a product nears end-of-life
Providing manuals, certificates, and updates anytime, anywhere
All of this made accessible directly via the product, with no login or app required.
Strategic Thinking Means Acting Now
This new perspective is opening a new chapter for many companies. Those who approach the DPP not just as a compliance exercise, but as a communication channel, are gaining a strategic edge.
Because:
The DPP rollout may be gradual — but it’s coming for every product category
The requirements are complex — but they offer room for creative implementation
The DPP is becoming a benchmark for transparency, service, and brand trust
What still looks like a data project today will become a loyalty asset and differentiation driver tomorrow.
When Products Think Along and Services Grow With Them
Digital Product Passport as a Service Channel: One real-world example of the DPP in action comes from SEINE Batteriesysteme. In partnership with Narravero, they’ve launched a DPP that makes technical details, safety information, and usage guidance instantly available through a simple scan or NFC tap on the product.
Depending on the product’s stage in its lifecycle, users access different content:
Post-purchase: insights into origin and assembly
In use: care instructions, maintenance tips, spare parts
End-of-life: return programs or reuse options
The result? A Product Passport that lives and evolves with the product, turning passive data into active relationship-building for both manufacturers and customers.
Conclusion: Smarter Products, Stronger Impact
The Digital Product Passport is here to stay. But what companies choose to make of it is still wide open.
One version just stores data. The other builds connection.
Those who start treating the DPP as a service channel today aren’t just investing in compliance —they’re investing in relevance, loyalty, and future readiness.
