Coordinating product design, process design, and supply chain design decisions - Part A: Topic motivation, performance implications, and article review process

Despite the undeniable appeal and importance of coordinating decisions across products design, manufacturing process design, and supply chain design to both science and practice, we know very little about how to do so to maximize operational, supply chain, and firm performance. This special issue on Coordinating Product Design, Process Design, and Supply Chain Design Decisions was conceived early 2003 to bring awareness to and to spur scholarly research into this topic. In doing so, we cast a wide net from both content and methodological perspectives, encouraging interdisciplinary papers that were theory-building and/or theory-testing in purpose using either empirical-based (e.g., case research, survey research, historical research, etc.) and/or modeling (i.e., optimization or simulation) methodologies. The resulting seven papers represent the fruits of this harvest and are being presented in two consecutive parts. Whereas Part A introduces the three papers that speak to the performance implications of coordinating product design, manufacturing process design, and supply chain design decisions, Part B introduces the remaining four papers that address how and why these three decision areas can be coordinated. Included in Part A of this special issue, we also make the review process transparent for third-party evaluation and, more importantly, formally recognize and thank the numerous colleagues from across multiple disciplines and academic institutions around the world for their efforts in helping us produce this two-part special issue.