EXPERT PANEL

Turning Suppliers Into Partners

Your suppliers have design expertise that you’re not tapping into. And that’s pretty common – because it’s challenging to get design feedback from your internal team, let alone suppliers. But the teams that do unlock supplier expertise are already achieving huge outcomes:

With the help of key suppliers, one company redesigned an entire product line from the ground up using off the shelf parts. As a result, they gained market share, as supply chain shortages and long lead times impacted competitors.

This is just one example. Other design teams are tapping into supplier expertise to:

  • Make products easier to manufacture and assemble
  • Improve margins by taking out cost
  • Achieve challenging specifications
  • And unlock more innovation

The benefits of strong supplier partnerships are clear. But how do you get there? 

How about by learning from companies already at the forefront? You can watch a recorded panel discussion from CoLab, featuring special guests from Ford, iRobot, and Mainspring Energy, discussing how to turn suppliers into partners.