15.1 Getting Started: Buyer/Supplier Integration

Explain why Olympic rowing is an appropriate metaphor for buyer/supplier integration.

Define buyer/supplier integration and discuss its importance—and why it is hard to do.

Identify and describe forms of supplier integration, including collaborative forecastingYou work together with your supplier to develop a joint demand forecast, enabling both sides to plan better., vendor managed inventory, and early supplier involvement in new product development (NPD).

Define and describe integrated business planning. Discuss the role of cadence callsDirect costs attributable to the production of goods sold by a company. Includes material costs, labor costs, and manufacturing overhead.

Describe how stage gates can improve the NPD process. Identify how suppliers can contribute to the stage-gate process.