Collaborative Product Commerce Research Articles

Team-oriented parts information sharing platform

In today’s fiercely competitive market, in order to survive and develop, enterprises must possess a high degree of flexibility and rapid response capability. The same requirements also stand true for the parts information sharing. In the new collaborative product commerce (CPC), in particular, this kind of information sharing is a challenge. The traditional parts library (Plib), designed as enterprise-level, is unable to provide flexible and effective information sharing in CPC. Considering the principle of virtual organization in CPC, teams’ potential information capacity is exploited. And a team-oriented parts information sharing platform is proposed. This platform consists of the team-oriented parts information model based on Plib standard, the architecture of this platform, and three types of parts information sharing patterns. As a result of this approach, the efficiency of the parts-information sharing is improved significantly.

Successful implementation of collaborative product commerce: An organizational fit perspective

When confronted with competitive strategies in a rapidly changing globalized environment, enterprises gradually shift from fighting their battles individually to engaging in more collaborative competition. However, for this particular period shift to the cooperative partnership paradigm, only a few empirical studies exist on implementing a practical strategy for collaborative commerce, such as collaborative product commerce (CPC). This research explores the implementation of the CPC system by Taiwanese enterprises from the perspective of organizational fit – the core spirit of CPC – and discusses its relationship with “implementation success,” “implementation satisfaction,” “inter-organizational trust,” and “organizational interdependence.” Findings indicate that successful implementation of CPC should consider the fit between the CPC system and the facilitative processes of the corporation. Additionally, inter-organizational trust and interdependence should be considered because these also affect CPC system implementation.

Developing a collaborative supply chain reference model for a regional manufacturing industry in China

Under today's competitive environments and globalisation trend, supply chain management has emerged as one of the best practices for corporations to gain competitive advantages. The supply chain (SC) operations reference (SCOR) model, developed by the SC Council, provides a common framework and standard terminology for evaluating, positioning and implementing SC practice. However, the model does not get to the specifics of how to manage collaboration in SC and what makes it work. It also lacks the best practice example for specific industries. In this paper, we extend the SCOR model by integrating collaborative product commerce and project management to propose a comprehensive collaborative supply chain operations reference model (CSCOR). The CSCOR consists of four hierarchical levels: business, cooperative, process and operational models. We apply the CSCOR model to a regional electricity industry in China and assess its relative effectiveness.

Toward a theory to study the use of collaborative product commerce for product development

Collaborative product commerce (CPC) solutions span software and services which permit individuals to share product data to improve the design, development, and management of products throughout the product development lifecycle. Drawing upon prior developments in adaptive structuration theory (AST) and media richness theory, I develop a theoretical framework to better understand the role of CPC in enabling collaboration in a product development environment. I study the impact of CPC on product design and development processes using a cross-sectional survey of 36 firms. The study reveals that CPC usage varies across different phases of the product development lifecycle. Preliminary results indicate that CPC has enabled firms to collaborate effectively with external stakeholders, which has resulted in tangible business benefits. I conclude by developing several research propositions which provide a roadmap for conducting future empirical research to measure the impact of CPC on product development, and highlight potential research topics that can be explored.

A collaborative product commerce approach to value‐based health plan purchasing

PurposeCollaborative product commerce (CPC) techniques are being applied with greater frequency in the health care sector. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential barriers to their success in influencing cost and quality.Design/methodology/approachThe health care supply chain (SC) is analyzed and five national health initiatives attempting to apply CPC techniques are described.FindingsFive national‐level programs designed to improve health care quality and control costs use a variety of CPC techniques to create incentives and/or disincentives to influence suppliers’ behavior. Six barriers to success are identified that threaten healthcare CPC initiatives. They include: widespread resistance to change; information system limitations; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); the required time investment; lack of commitment to CPC principles; and the sustainability of the CPC business model.Research implications/limitationsInvestigation into the barriers to success is warranted to develop evidence‐based solutions to improve effectiveness of CPC approaches in health care.Practical implicationsNo national health care initiative to date can be described as an unqualified success in terms of its ability to align the SC. Nevertheless, individually, and to some extent collectively, the aforementioned programs are making some headway.Originality/valueThis work is one of the first to present information on how collective CPC efforts are taking shape in health care and to describe key national‐level projects currently underway in the field. Such information can offer policymakers and employers insight into how CPC techniques might improve effectiveness in health benefit contracting.

Development of value chain collaborative model for product lifecycle management and its LCD industry adoption

This paper develops a framework analyzing activities in a collaborative value chain. The research identifies the functions of product lifecycle management (PLM) required to collaborate and integrate members of value chains across different organizations in three types of business models. The liquid crystal display (LCD) industry is used as a case study to explain the value system framework and its PLM adoption. In more specific details, this research further investigates product-specific value chain activities, i.e., a mobile phone integrator (with small-size LCD display as its component), to gain insights about the value chain characteristics. Finally, this paper depicts a conceptual architecture of the PLM for LCD collaborative product commerce (CPC) and lists important modules of PLM supporting key activities of LCD industry's value system.

Understanding the Impact of Collaboration Software on Product Design and Development

Prior research suggests that supply chain collaboration has enabled companies to compete more efficiently in a global economy. We investigate a class of collaboration software for product design and development called collaborative product commerce (CPC). Drawing on prior research in media richness theory and organizational science, we develop a theoretical framework to study the impact of CPC on product development. Based on data collected from 71 firms, we test our research hypotheses on the impact of CPC on product design quality, design cycle time, and development cost. We find that CPC implementation is associated with greater collaboration among product design teams. This collaboration has a significant, positive impact on product quality and reduces cycle time and product development cost. Further analyses reveal that CPC implementation is associated with substantial cost savings that can be attributed to improvements in product design quality, design turnaround time, greater design reuse, and lower product design documentation and rework costs.

The development of a collaborative design chain reference model for the motorcycle industry

A well-defined and flexible design chain reference model forms the basis for promoting collaborative design chain. The Special Interest Group under the Design Chain Council proposed the design chain operations reference (DCOR) in an attempt to assist enterprises building a design chain modeling frameworks. To date, DCOR version 1.0 only provides preliminary definitions, such as those for major design procedures, and lacks an example of best practices in the industry. Additionally, few studies have attempted this research issue. This study integrates the concepts of design chain, collaborative product design, and collaborative product commerce in a proposed collaborative design chain operations reference model (CDCORM) based on DCOR as a reference for developing a collaborative design chain system in the product lifecycle. The CDCORM consists of four hierarchical levels: collaborative design chain business model; collaborative design chain cooperative model; collaborative design-chain process model; and, a collaborative design chain operational model. Based on project management, the CDCORM has five core procedures-product plan, concept design, detail design, design review, and design amend. This study also assesses the effectiveness of the CDCORM by applying it to the motorcycle industry. In summary, this study extends the DCOR model and proposes a complete collaborative design chain reference model and implements a system in the motorcycle industry as a case study. This case study serves as a best practices example for the motorcycle industry.

Automotive supply chain models and technologies: a review of some latest developments

PurposeTo critically review business trends and drivers affecting the performance of supply chains and build‐to‐order initiatives.Design/methodology/approachThis is a comprehensive review of the potential implications of two inbound logistics solutions: supplier parks and the notion of full‐service‐vehicle supply in addition to developing technologies such as web services interoperability, radio frequency identification (RFID) and collaborative product commerce (CPC).FindingsIt is expected that the wide adoption/consolidation of supplier parks and full‐service‐vehicle supply and technologies such as web services interoperability, RFID and CPC will facilitate/promote the adoption of build‐to‐order initiatives.Research limitations/implicationsThe business models and technologies presented in this paper have been developed and exploited mainly in the automotive sector. Their success could have a big impact if transferred to other industries. Only a handful of technologies/business models affecting supply chain management have been reviewed.Practical implicationsThe widespread use of the technologies and inbound logistics solutions presented in this paper might require the development of sophisticated measurement tools to assess the performance of the entire supply chain. The developed tool has to capture the state of the supply chain in terms of synchronisation, bullwhip effect, pipeline inventory, cycle times, stockout and backorder incidents plus other metrics associated to the operation of the firm including sunk costs, invested capital and ROI.Originality/valueThis paper provides a sound review on technologies and business models critical for supply chains developing build‐to‐order capabilities.

WSCPC: An architecture using semantic web services for collaborative product commerce

In collaborative product commerce (CPC), design activities need to be carried out concurrently with the identification of potential manufacturing partners based on the design requirements and manufacturing constraints. This paper presents a web service based CPC framework, WSCPC (web services for CPC). WSCPC integrates design process, business plan, and assembly operations using web services in which a task is regarded as a service that an organization can provide and is outsourced to other companies on the fly. In addition, we propose a service-oriented process model that enables a machine to locate actively a CPC service, to check service capabilities, and to execute collaborative services into an optimized process workflow. Our service-oriented process model is a general drawing to realize functionalities, such as defining CPC service, enacting CPC service, and monitoring the executing status of CPC service. CPC, therefore, can utilize web services to not only discover diverse services of design, manufacturing and logistics, but configure collaborative process design, supporting service oriented CPC within WSCPC framework.

A framework for sharing product information across enterprises

Collaborative product commerce (CPC) is a newly emerging technology to support inter-enterprise collaboration through the product life-cycle. From the point of view of information technology, CPC is a software technology to integrate products, processes and resources of different enterprises using web technologies. In this paper, we propose a framework for integrating product information across enterprises, which is being developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) as a part of a CPC project. The product metadata represented by an XML schema, which is compatible with the ISO STEP PDM (product Data Management) schema standard, is presented to semantically and schematically integrate distributed product information. Web services technologies are discussed to support the interoperability of application systems related to the product development, such as computer-aided design (CAD) and PDM, where most of these applications run in a distributed environment. Finally, we implement the framework to integrate distributed product information and application systems.

Aftermarket support and the supply chain

PurposeTo examine supply chain competences necessary to efficiently and/or effectively succeed in aftermarket support.Design/methodology/approachUsing the aerospace industry as a context, this paper provides a brief overview of aftermarket support practices and trends and discusses the broader implications for aftermarket supply chain managers.FindingsThere are multiple approaches to aftermarket support. Which approach should be used depends on key variables including: technology, need for visibility and/or traceability, and need for collaborative product commerce.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is a general review. Future research should examine resources necessary in individual industries, other forms of relationships, and the influence of new technologies.Practical implicationsIn many industries, there are significant opportunities for incremental profit in aftermarket support. Collaborative product commerce, alliances, a number of new technologies (e.g. web commerce), and security needs may play critical roles in determining whether or not a company's aftermarket support practices will be profitable. Firms without competences in these areas should seek help from trusted partners to fill competence gaps.Originality/valueThis paper explores an often ignored but significant line of business – aftermarket support. Lessons demonstrated in this paper may be used in a number of industries that rely on aftermarket support for incremental profit.

협업적 제품 거래 환경에서 STEP 기반의 제품정보 추출 시스템

Collaborative product commerce (CPC) supports a collaboration that a global enterprise and customer related to life cycle of product share product information and a collaboration process for the collaboration, and integrating applications. In this paper, we use common data schema in order to solve a interoperability problem about shared product information between enterprises. And we map to common data schema from each other different data format. Therefore we implement CPC Adaptor in order to integrate distributed product information.

EGads! A Health Futurist Lost In Cyberspace

eGads! A Health Futurist Lost In Cyberspace

Now or never: the automotive collaboration imperative

Today’s automotive leadership faces harsh competitive truths. Six forces will have transformed the automotive world by 2008: (1) an imperative to create value for consumers and shareholders, faster; (2) further consolidation and scale (yet scale alone is not guarantee of success); (3) a greater need for production and process agility, to embrace technological breakthroughs in vehicle engineering; (4) the advent of new disruptive technology in vehicles, and in supply chains; (5) accelerated innovation of products and services; innovation is the differentiator; and (6) Increasing customer expectation of both choice and value. Success in the future will depend on adopting a model that is based on collaborative relationships with suppliers and others. Companies that can assemble the best supply communities and accelerate consumer‐centric innovation faster than their competitor’s network will be the winners. Collaborative product commerce (CPC) provides the framework under which multiple‐company collaborative communities can flourish and deliver long term sustainable value. The transition to a collaborative model requires strategic leadership. The formation of new communities will not happen as a natural evolution from the lower forms of collaboration that currently exist. The benefits of CPC include: shorter cycle times, cost reductions, development of consumer‐centric offerings. Six key steps to CPC are: (1) make collaboration the centerpiece of strategy: obtain a community of partners that excel in customer responsiveness, speed to market, and innovation; (2) anticipate the upcoming disruptive forces and create a collaborative response with key community partners rather than in isolation; (3) work with community partners to identify essential areas where collaboration can create a superior business model; (5) begin working with partners first on enhancing product development; (5) focus on core competencies and eliminate redundant processes; and (6) share value within the community. The mastery of collaboration will prove a defining and indispensable strategy for the automotive leaders that will emerge early in the second automotive century.

Research on concurrent design of collaborative product commerce oriented discrete manufacturing enterprises

In order to fulfill the product concurrent design requirements of discrete manufacturing enterprises, this paper puts forth for the first time a Collaborative Product Commerce (CPC) oriented X2D (X to Design) theory, which can take Collaboration, Commerce and Concurrence (3C) into realization during the product design stage. At the same time, this research adopts VPN (Virtual Private Network) technique to ensure the security of product data and information during transportation. By building CPC-oriented and VPN-based framework of X2D product concurrent design system, the paper explores a way for discrete enterprises adapting to the drastically competitive market and performing their product innovation.

VIRTUAL MANUFACTURING: AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF COLLABORATIVE PRODUCT COMMERCE

The sweeping changes in the web-related technologies in the late 1990s have brought paradigm shift in the business environment and strategic thinking of the organizations. To remain competitive in this ever-changing business scenario, the organizations are focusing more and more on the globalization of businesses and collaboration in the product development across the value chain. This phenomenon has given rise to a new business concept — Collaborative Product Commerce (CPC) that applies web-related technologies for the integration of various value-chain constituents from suppliers to customers. It focuses on cross-enterprise teams to share the intellectual capital in real time to reduce the time-to-market in the product development life cycle. Manufacturing is the central activity that encompasses product, process, resources and plant. Manufacturing activities across the enterprises with real time exchange of information result in the optimization of design, resources and processes, which is in the true spirit of collaborative product commerce. One of the most important facilitators of the collaborative aspects of manufacturing is the virtualization of the manufacturing process components. It involves various visualization and data integration aspects. To deliver value added solutions in this area, it is imperative to have thorough expertise in the engineering services. The focus of this paper will be on virtualization aspects of manufacturing in a collaborative environment. Important paradigms of virtual manufacturing such as design-centered, production-centered and control-centered virtualization will be first discussed in brief. Virtualization of important components of manufacturing such as process planning and design, equipment designs and factory layout and resource management will be discussed in details. To conclude, significance of virtualization of manufacturing in terms of business benefits in the collaborative product development environment will be considered.

Collaborative Product and Process Commerce and Knowledge Exchange

Collaborative Product and Process Commerce and Knowledge Exchange

Relate, empower and free

The need to increase communication between internal departments, as well as with suppliers and customers, across a global setting has been the driving force behind a new class of information technology solutions known as collaborative product commerce (CPC). These solutions are contributing to the disintegration of the vertical organisation of companies, and usher in the emergence of value webs, made up of design, supply and service chains. It is indicated that the exponential growth in the available technologies has arisen from the reductionism-the describe-predict-and-control paradigm-that is a foundation of Western culture.

Requirements Driven e‐SE

AbstractThis article discusses how custom system/software order request for quote (RFQ) responses are being supported via the Net by requirements driven e‐SE processes. These e‐SE processes couple traditional SE development point tool solutions with enterprise level collaborative product commerce (CPC) tool solutions to manage the custom system/software order RFQ bid process. This marriage of traditional SE and software development, application tool solutions with CPC solutions is coined “e‐Product Lifecycle Management (e‐PLM).”