Web-Based Support for Early Supplier Involvement in New Product Development

Abstract

In the last decade, the significance of concurrent engineering and supply chain management has been widely acclaimed, as evidenced in the bountiful support to research and project development from both the government research councils and industrial bodies all over the world. Indeed, one common finding is that greater benefits can be accrued from supplier involvement in the more initial stages of new product development process. The rationale is that suppliers usually possess vital product and process technology that can lead to improvements in product design and the New Product Development (NPD) process itself. For example, it has been found in a cross-national study of 29 NPD projects that much of the Japanese advantage in concept-to-market time was attributable to supplier involvement in the NPD process (Clark, 1989). Indeed, it is not exaggerating to say that there exists infinite potential from the suppliers in impacting on the quality and cost of new products (Burt, 1989).