Title: Supplier involvement in rapid development

Authors: Taneli Niskanen; Kai Hänninen; Jaakko Kujala

Addresses: Faculty of Technology, Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, Oulu 90014, Finland ' Faculty of Technology, Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, Oulu 90014, Finland ' Faculty of Technology, Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4610, Oulu 90014, Finland

Abstract: A customer-oriented enterprise must satisfy various customer needs if it is to stay competitive. Unexpected needs often demand rapid development of a product or solution, which may pose various challenges, one of which is the management of supplier involvement in such projects. In a case company environment, this study reviews and analyses the effect of supplier involvement in both a new product and a rapid development project on the three fundamental metrics of product development success: costs, quality and development time. The results indicate that the challenges relate mainly to lack of communication and coordination and to increased product development speed, which can lead to rising costs, quality defects and late component deliveries. Against this, suppliers often possess valuable expertise that may prove beneficial in terms of product quality and product development time.

Keywords: new product development; NPD; supplier involvement; rapid development; RaDE; enterprise management; supply chain management; SCM; product costs; product quality; communication; coordination; development time; quality defects; late delivery; component delivery.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2015.073808

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 2015 Vol.14 No.4, pp.273 - 287

Received: 18 Feb 2015
Accepted: 07 Sep 2015
Published online: 22 Dec 2015 *

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