Fredrik Berglund

Supplier Integration and Communication Strategies in Collaborative Platform Development

Following the introduction of platform-based products, especially considering that platforms are used for multiple brands, there is certainly a growing need for system engineering processes and techniques. This is further emphasized by the fact that companies faced with collaborative platform development frequently need to harmonize often opposing claims from stakeholders with different backgrounds, beliefs, desires and intentions. A core strategy for using resources (e.g., work-hours, knowledge, and production systems) better and more flexibly is to involve suppliers earlier in the development cycle. From this perspective, well-designed and efficiently managed supplier integration is a huge competitive advantage. Supplier integration may range from component design and manufacture to full responsibility for the design of complex distributed systems. The starting point for this work is the results from a previous study, made by the authors, in which a Swedish automotive company and one of its sub-suppliers were examined in order to identify communication barriers. This revealed several problems regarding supplier interaction and information management in projects where both suppliers and product owners contribute their unique knowledge. Following the previous study, the questions to answer include: How can platforms be represented to suit suppliers as well as orginal equipment manufacturers? How does one guarantee efficient, accurate and secure information exchange between the parties involved? Consequently, this article pinpoints some of the problems that companies involved with collaborative product platform development, together with their suppliers, must face today. To answer these questions, interviews, and document studies were conducted for a Swedish truck manufacturer. The results are oriented to the interfaces between product owners and their suppliers.

Platform Strategies for a Supplier in the Aircraft Engine Industry

The utilization of a platform strategy has become a competitive priority in many industries, most notably in the automotive industry. Naturally, many firms in other industries are adopting this strategy with different modifications and degrees of implementation. However, little research covers the application of platform development in a supplier and/or small batch production environment. The adaptation of a platform strategy in these settings, by a supplier in the aircraft engine industry, is the focal point of this paper. Based on platform development literature and the characteristics of the aircraft engine industry and the company studied advantages and hindrances for platform strategies have been ruled out. Interviews with involved people within the company studied have further clarified different perspectives on platforms and their possible utilization. Based on the analysis of collected information it is proposed that a possible platform strategy would include: a technology platform, incorporating general knowledge on core technology assets embodied in either humans, organizations, processes, information or methods; and a product platform, incorporating product specific elements that could be re-used when developing new components for a particular product line.© 2008 ASME