Layering the Architecture of Digital Product Innovations: Firmware and Adapter Layers

This study investigates how organizations layer their product architectures by embedding digital components into physical products. Drawing on a longitudinal case study of PrintCo—a desktop 3D printer firm—we show that layering a product architecture relies on creating adapter layers that facilitate connections among physical and digital components. To generate these adapter layers, PrintCo first parametrized physical components through firmware, making them controllable and addressable. PrintCo then arranged higher-order digital functionality via adapter layers that couple parametrized physical components with additional digital functionality. Based on these findings, we propose a theoretical model that explains how organizations layer product architectures, what the role of adapter layers is, and how the transformation of an organization’s product architecture progresses.