An integration of bidding-oriented product conceptualization and supply chain formation

Collaboration with other members of the supply chain is one means by which enterprises can compete in today's global business environment. Thus, early stages of the new product development process involve both technical activities, e.g. product platform definition and commercial activities, e.g. bidding for contracts. This paper introduces a bidding-based product conceptualization and partner selection (PCPS) system to help companies coordinate the two aspects. For product platform generation and eliciting bidding criteria, a well-established requirement acquisition technique known as general sorting was adapted and employed. In this regard, a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network was used to select preferred design options for bidding purpose. To effectively select partners participating in a collaborative design and bidding process, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique was subsequently employed for finalizing the product concept and supply chain. A case study on cellular phone design was then applied for illustrating the proposed prototype system.