A collaborative tool to design the product/supply chain couple in a high-tech environment: application to an electromagnetic sensor

摘要

The emergence of innovative products involves several stakeholders and impacts the supply chain. Innovation is often a collective and open process. As the product is interlinked with its supply chain, companies involved in the innovation process have a strong interest in focusing on the product/supply chain pair rather than on the product alone. However, there are many collaborative tools dedicated to product design but they are not necessarily adapted to the design of the product/supply chain couple. Therefore, we suggest in this article that an instantiated supply chain model can help companies collaborate to design their product/supply chain couple. A case study illustrates our proposal and highlights the importance of digital tools in the innovation process.