Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) in Dutch infrastructure projects

Early Supplier Involvement (ESI) in Dutch infrastructure projects: An exploratory study to identify the current status of the Dutch infrastructure sector in terms of early supplier involvement

Lotchouang Kouam, Samuel (TU Delft Civil Engineering and Geosciences)

Hertogh, M.J.C.M. (graduation committee)
Hombergen, L.P.I.M. (mentor)
Kersten, W.C. (mentor)
van der Bijl, Wouter (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Civil Engineering | Construction Management and Engineering

2018-01-19

Early supplier involvement (ESI) can be defined as a mechanism for involving preferred suppliers in the early phases of product design and development. The concept of ESI is frequently mentioned in the context of New Product Development (NPD) and has been in existence for over half a century with positive results in a number of industries. In the Dutch infrastructure sector however, the implementation of the ESI concept is not yet as widespread as in the automotive or electronics industries. Consequently, the opportunity to conduct this study comes from the recent developments that resulted in an increased reliance on suppliers' knowledge in Dutch infrastructure projects, combined to the fact that ESI seems to be a potential solution to cope with those changes. Therefore, through literature study and interviews with practitioners within the Dutch infrastructure sector, it is aimed to identify the current status of ESI within the Dutch infrastructure sector, identify barriers and stimuli to the ESI process and derive some recommendations for the sector.

early supplier involvement
supplier involvement
Dutch infrastructure projects
Project Management
Supply Chain

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e9b8dae8-ffc6-4399-9263-af70aefbe791

Student theses

master thesis

© 2018 Samuel Lotchouang Kouam