NEW RESEARCH | Here are the mistakes suppliers make in product development – 3 tips for success

Many small and medium-sized suppliers believe that success in partnerships is about understanding the customer. But the biggest challenge is often at home.

– I thought that more problems would be related to the customer relationship, but most of the challenges turned out to be with the supplier, says Filip Flankegård, Mälardalen University.

In his doctoral thesis, he studied the role of smaller supplier companies in customers’ product development. The supplier perspective has not received much attention in research in the past, despite the fact that suppliers are often important co-developers of products.

Internal shortcomings biggest obstacle

The thesis studies four smaller suppliers. Two of them develop their own products in collaboration with customers, while two mainly supply components. All were involved to varying degrees in customers’ product development processes – but faced similar challenges.

– We could see several shortcomings in internal communication. For example, the design department did not really understand what the production needed, or the sales department did not pass on the right information, says Filip Flankegård.

A recurring problem was that supplier companies did not know what to communicate – despite the small size of their organizations and short decision-making paths.

– It is not enough that employees sit close to each other. The company must also understand the need for information in different roles.

Other challenges existed in the development processes: either too much was documented – and no one used the material – or too little, leading to misunderstandings in handovers. In addition, several companies lacked knowledge of basic development tools, such as risk analysis or CAD software functions.

Late involvement costs

In the interaction with customers, further challenges emerged. A key one was the timing of when the supplier is invited into the project. In several cases, they were involved too late, which meant that requirements were already set – sometimes on the wrong basis.

– If the supplier is not involved from the start, it is more difficult to question or improve the requirements.

In addition, customers often failed to share so-called contextual information – i.e. the environment in which the product will work, the chemicals it may be exposed to or the amount of space around it.

– This type of information is absolutely necessary to construct something that works well, emphasizes Filip Flankegård.

Contact filip.flankegard@outlook.com

More about the thesis Filip Flankegård recently defended his doctoral thesis at Mälardalen University A Supplier’s Perspective on Involvement in Customers’ Product Development.