A case study of concurrent engineering in the supply chain

Concurrent engineering is widely practised within Swedish industry and although many 1(st) tier suppliers have well established relationships with their customers. concurrent engineering involving three partners, customer, 1(st) tier supplier and tool manufacturer, is a new situation for most. The experience of companies within the Pressoform consortium indicate that involving OEM suppliers and tool manufacturers from an early stage of product development can reduce lead times by up to 50%. The major parr of the paper describes an ongoing project financed by Pressoform to improve supplier integration between 1(st) and 2(nd) tier suppliers and the customer. This project focuses both on technical infrastructure and organisational aspects of outsourcing and concurrent engineering. The paper also draws general conclusions from both the Segerstrom and Svensson case and other case studies being carried out within the Partnership Project of Pressoform.