The extended enterprise®# [1]: advancing supplier-customer competitiveness

A 1991 article [2] by one of the authors defined the impact that electronic process control has had on the ability to manufacture mechanical components to higher levels of performance more consistently and more reliably. These new manufacturing capabilities have enabled astute product designers to design machines that require less weight and space to transmit more power with greater reliability. These Power Density advances reduce the total cost of ownership by creating a more favourable balance between performance and cost. This paper suggests a model that effectively integrates the core competencies of all participants across the supply hierarchy to take advantage of Power Density concepts by building more effective partnering relationships between customers and suppliers. It points out the opportunity which senior management has to enhance such relationships and to create more value through synergies rather than destroying it through a persistently one-sided demand, "Supplier, lower your price to ...