Scott has been offered a new position as supply management manager for a new Deere & Company manufacturing facility of a yet-to-be-designed product (i.e., skid-steer loader). As part of his new job, he must make a proposal to identify specific suppliers to integrate into skid-steer loader development process and specific ways to effectively integrate these suppliers in order to meet aggressive target costs.

1. Suppose there are 100 potential suppliers, how many suppliers do you think should ideally be integrated in the early skid-steer development process? Why that many or that few?

2. Are there tradeoffs in terms of the number of suppliers to integrate? If so, what are the tradeoffs?

3. Are there tradeoffs among the identified criteria? Can you tell? What do you need to know to better answer this question?

4. Would you mandate weekly meetings as an inter-organizational policy to structure the interactions? If not, how can you facilitate communication?

5. What role can IT play or should play in structuring these interactions? What concerns do you have with the suggested IT role?

6. Suppose the criteria you developed suggest that you integrate supplier X into the product development process for the skid-steer loader, what reasons might lead you to choose to not do so or to reduce the convenience of doing so?

7. What do you think might be hurdles to overcome at Deere to integrate suppliers into the early phases of the product development process?