Brokering the customer-supplier partnership in product design and realization over the World Wide Web

Abstract

This research is concerned with the application of the World Wide Web (WWW or web) technology to facilitate the early supplier involvement in new product development. The paper focuses on two parts of the resulting web-based system. The first part is the Bid Explorer underpinned by a bid model which is based on design specification. The bid model consists of inquiries which in turn have values of different types. Inquiries are represented in a hierarchical tree. The bid model is collaboratively established by, and thereafter commonly shared between, the customer and all the interested suppliers. From the point of view of the customer, the inquiries are their requirements. In contrast, from the supplier's viewpoint the inquiries are their capabilities. The second part of the system is the Partnership Explorer which is underpinned by a partnership model. This partnership model uses four types of numeric partnership indices, namely satisfaction index (SI), flexibility index (FI), risk index (RI), and confidence index (CI). The SI is based on the overlap between the customer requirements and supplier capabilities. The FI is based on the surplus of the supplier capabilities in relation to the customer requirements. The RI is evaluated through the shortage of the supplier capabilities with reference to the customer requirements. The CI is based on the past performance records of a supplier.