A recent survey from The Management Roundtable and The Product Development & Management Assn. reveals that 80% of companies are not satisfied with their collaborative development efforts for new products. Major concerns include a lack of executive involvement and dissatisfaction with available IT collaboration tools.

Most collaborative failures result from inadequate planning, say the two groups. And it's true in all aspects of new product development, including materials handling.

"Often times there is a poor foundation for collaboration," says Damon Canfield, president of New Product Innovations of Columbus, Ohio. "It takes a much higher investment of time at the executive level than a typical vendor relationship requires. Executives are a little naive about what it takes to make it work," he says.

Canfield adds that about 40% of companies are using collaboration for new product development. Materials handling engineers, who design the handling systems to manufacture new products, should be a part of those collaboration efforts.

"As soon as we get some idea of what the product looks like, we begin involving those people who design the materials flow," Canfield says. Companies should begin by outlining goals, investments in time and capital, reporting processes, timelines and overall expectations. He stresses that the smaller the number of partners, the easier the task will be.