Design information for efficient equipment supplier/buyer integration

The purpose of this paper is to describe the underlying design information and success factors for production equipment acquisition, in order to support the design of high‐performance production systems.

The research strategy employed was an in‐depth case study of an industrialization project, together with a questionnaire of 25 equipment suppliers.

The study provides the reader with an insight into the role of design information when acquiring production equipment by addressing questions such as: What type of information is used? How do equipment suppliers obtain information? What factors facilitate a smooth production system acquisition?

Limitations are primarily associated with the chosen research methodology, which requires further empirical studies to establish a generic value.

The implications are that manufacturing companies have to transfer various types of design information with respect to the content and kind of information. More attention has to be placed on what information is transferred to ensure that equipment suppliers receive all the information needed to design and subsequently build the production equipment. To facilitate integration of equipment suppliers, manufacturing companies should appoint a contact person who can gather, understand and transform relevant design information.

External integration of equipment suppliers in production system design by means of design information is an area that has been rarely addressed in academia and industry.