Supply chain design is frequently performed from the perspective of a single supplier‐customer relationship. However, as a supplier provides value to different supply chains, it becomes increasingly difficult to optimize each supply chain. Each supply chain has different requirements, procedures, and formats. A member may have requirements placed upon them by one member that contradicts another member. The competitive success of a supplier depends on its ability to participate in different supply chains. This, in turn, affects the competitiveness of each of the other supply chains. This paper presents a generic prescriptive methodology for mitigating risks in an aerospace supply chain and proposes five activities. The methodology provides a mechanism to minimize conflicting objectives. A hypothetical case study is then presented on how the methodology can be applied.

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Industry often requires engineers to work in teams. Therefore, many university engineering courses require students to work in groups to complete a design project. Due to the increasingly global nature of engineering, opportunities for students to navigate the issues of distance, time, culture, language, and multiple perspectives associated with virtual teams are becoming particularly desirable. To understand students' experience with virtual teams in a graduate course on principles of lean manufacturing, a group of researchers at a midwestern university compared the project performance, selected group processes, and satisfaction of students randomly assigned to face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams. Students in both the face‐to‐face and computer‐mediated communication design teams performed equally well on the final project, and reported similar patterns in group processes with a few exceptions. Students in face‐to‐face design teams were more satisfied with the group experience than those in the computer‐mediated communication design teams; however, all reported an overall positive experience.

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