Research on the coordination mechanism of product development chain

Supplier involvement in product development has become an increasingly popular method for it has positive effect in improving product development cost, quality, time and innovation, etc. The relationship among assemblers and its suppliers can be called as the product collaborative development chain. Coordination and collaboration of different relation are the key issues to implementing product collaborative development. The conception and characteristics of the product collaborative development chain were discussed. Then the coordination mechanism was proposed using Synergetics theory. The variable factors which impact the collaborative development were summarized, and the mass customization was selected as the main order parameter. Base on this order parameter, the system was divided into two coordination levels: tasks coordination and inside tasks coordination. The order parameter equation and trend functions were given, and then the approaches to achieve self-organization were discussed. The coordination mechanism of product collaborative development chain was discussed from four aspects: information mechanism, incentive mechanism, support mechanism and safe mechanism, and then the system collaboration was analyzed and optimized. Synergetics theory provides a new way of establishing coordination mechanism of product collaborative development chain.