Chapter 5: Collaborative Environments

Title: Implementing collaborative quality function deployment in innovation networks

Author(s): Manuel Hirsch, Armin Lau, Sven-Volker Rehm

Address: German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf, Centre for Management Research, Koerschtalstr 26, D-73770 Denkendorf, Germany | German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf, Centre for Management Research, Koerschtalstr 26, D-73770 Denkendorf, Germany | WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Burgplatz 2, D-56179 Vallendar, Germany

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2009 pp. 243 - 254

Abstract/Summary: Facing the challenge of cross-sectoral industrial networking of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the European integrated project AVALON focuses on making SMEs inter-operate in smart innovation networks. Within a number of enterprise networks, dedicated methods for collaborative innovation management have been adapted and implemented organizationally. In order to provide information technology (IT) support for carrying out and managing those methods, they have been transformed into collaborative IT applications on a web-based platform. This paper introduces the transformation of quality function deployment (QFD) – as an exemplary method for innovation management – into an application supporting collaborative new product development. The model-driven application development (MAD) approach has proven useful to support this transformation in order to obtain applications which allow a systematic support of collaborative innovation processes in networks of SMEs.

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