COLLABORATIVE GLITCHES IN DESIGN CHAIN: CASE STUDY OF AN UNSUCCESSFUL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT WITH A SUPPLIER
Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Cantemessa, M.
Author: Personnier, Hélčne; Le Dain, Marie-Anne; Calvi, Richard
Series: ICED
Section: Design Organisation and Management
Page(s): 176-186
Abstract
The focus of the firms on their core competencies associated with the increasing complexity of products due to an integration of various technologies has led to an extension of their New Product Development (NPD) activity across organisational boundaries. The concept of design chain defines the network of participants included in this extended activity of product development. This paper focuses on the collaborative design with suppliers within the design chain. It seeks to appraise the benefits of such collaboration on the product development performance. The approach proposed is based on the “glitch” concept which enables us to tackle this issue from the opposite direction i.e. by identifying what happens when the collaboration with suppliers in design is absent. A case study analysis of an unsuccessful collaborative development with a supplier enables us to identify ten “glitches” that would prevent from reaping the benefits of supplier involvement. Informed by findings from this exploratory case, a categorisation of the collaborative “glitches” is proposed in order to analyse their impact on product development performance and to define preventive actions to avoid them.
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