Specification of a collaborative framework for equipment suppliers' integration in product development process

The role of equipment supplier in a successful manufacturing process of product components is very important. For this reason, the collaboration between OEM and equipment suppliers should rather go into strategic partnership, covering the whole equipment's lifecycle. This paper presents a PLM framework that aims at improving the suppliers' integration in the Product development process by enhancing the vertical collaboration between OEM and equipment suppliers, grouped in a global supplier network, relating to the equipments development project. This framework could improve the innovative capacities and the technical competencies of suppliers, by means of an efficient horizontal collaboration among a new global supplier network and by providing this network an interface to support collaboration with OEM.