Improving design with collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment through knowledge management and CSCW

Customization is a critical success factor in the current business environment. Companies need to improve supply chain management for the design and manufacturing quality of their products to be compatible with the individuals´ needs most rapidly and at lowest cost possible. One of the most important components that foster fast and inexpensive customization is the integration among partners in the supply chain. In the context, collaboration in the supply chain is the first step for improved data exchange, strategic use of information and homogenization of systems used for effective communication. As part of the integration mechanism, the collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) model is a valuable technological innovation tool to strategically, tactically, and operationally support the implementation of several types of transactions among the partners. This paper bears two objectives: presenting the CPFR model as a technological innovation, describing interaction issues between strategic partners during that process and showing how knowledge management and CSCW applied to the CPFR model can provide support to supply chain management, so that the partners in this chain can increase their customization capability and improve the design process.