In ter n ation al Jou r n al of Scien ti fic Re se ar ch in Kn ow le d ge, 2(1) , pp . 38- 47, 2014 Avail abl e onlin e at h tt p: //www .i j s r pub .com /i j sr k ISSN: 2322-4541; ©2014 IJSRP UB h tt p : //d x. d oi .or g/ 10.12983/ij s r k- 2014-p 0038- 0047 83 Full Lengt h Resear ch Paper Coor din at i on of P r odu ct, P r ocess and Suppl y Ch ain De s i gn ; A n al ysi s of Re ce n t L i t e r at u r e and Dir e cti on s f or Deve l op m e n t May sam Sh ah baz i 1* , Jah an i ar Bam dad Soof i 2 , Ali Kh at am i Fi rou z abadi 2 , Abol f az l Kaz az i 2 1 Ph D Candidate in production and operation management, Allameh Tabataba’i Un i v ersi ty , Teh ran , Iran 2 Department of industrial management, Allameh Tabataba’i Un i v ersi t y , T eh r an , Iran *Corr espon di ng Au th or: Em ail: sh ah baz i _m ei s am @y ah oo.com Recei ved 11 Nov em ber 2013; Accepted 27 Decem ber 2013 Ab st r act. In recen t y ears a g rowi ng body of research h as f ocu sed on coordi n ati ng produ ct , process an d su ppl y ch ai n deci si on s i n order to m eet cu stom ers’ i ncreasi ng dem an d f or v ari ety . Becau s e of th e i m portan ce of t h i s approach , as w ell as i ts nov el ty , we ai m ed t o con du ct a com pre h ensi v e li t er atu r e r ev i ew of pu bli sh ed paper s an d m ake som e propos i ti on s f or f u tu r e res earch . T h e pu bli sh ed m ater i a l h as been coll ect ed f rom cr edi bl e an d rel at ed j ou rn al s an d h as been rev i ewed an d anal y z ed f rom di ff eren t aspects. Fi n all y som e sugg esti ons are pr oposed t o be c on s i dered i n con du cti ng f u tu r e stu di es . In dust ry - s peci f i c an d i m pl em en tat i on - ori en ted stu di es, i n corporat i ng t h e real com pl ex i t i es an d un certai n t i es of th e bu si n ess env i ronm en t , an d pay m ore att en t i on to down st ream su ppl y ch ai n m an ag em en t are th e m ai n pr oposi ti on s of th i s pape r f or f u t u re research . Ke yw or d s: Th r ee di m en s i on al con cu rren t eng i n eeri ng (3DCE ), Su ppl y ch ai n c oordi n at i on , Pr odu ct arch i t ec tu re, L i ter atu re rev i ew 1. INTRODUCTION I n t h e l ast decades, cu st om ers’ i n creasi ng dem an d f or g reat er produ ct v ari et y h as ch ang ed t h e com pet i t i v e env i ron m en t of bu si n esses. Off eri ng a wi der v ari et y of produ ct s, serv i ces an d opt i on s are con si dered t h e m ai n com pet i t i v e adv an t ag e an d m any com pan i es are f orced t o m ov e f rom m ass produ ct i on t o m ass cu st om i z at i on . Th i s rel at i v el y n ew t erm t h at i s i n t rodu ced by Dav i s (1987) den ot es produ ci ng cu st om i z ed g oods at an econ om i c cost. In ot h er word, m ass cu st om i z at i on ai m s to ach i ev e an opt i m al bal an ce bet ween t h e ben ef i t s of craf t produ ct i on an d m ass produ ct i on . Prov i di ng wi der v ari et y of produ ct s of t en l eads to h i gh er com pl ex i t y i n t h e m anu f act u r i ng an d bu si n ess sy st em . Th eref ore ach i ev i ng a g ood t radeoff bet ween produ ct v ari et y an d t h e eff i ci en cy of produ ct i on sy st em requ i res m an ag i ng t h ese com pl ex i t i es. Accordi ng l y , f i n di ng appr opri at e m et h ods t o m an ag e t h ese di ff i cu l t i es i s g oi ng t o be an attract i v e t opi c f or research ers i n operat i on s m an ag em en t . On e of th e m ai n f i el ds of research i n t h i s reg ard i s t h e coordi n at i on of produ ct , process an d su ppl y ch ai n desi gn ; wh i ch i s al so call ed " th ree di m en si on al con cu rren t eng i n eer i ng (3DCE) " . Th i s paper ai m s t o presen t a com preh en si v e li t eratu re r ev i ew of pu bli sh ed rel at ed m at er i al an d propose a f ram ewor k f or dev el opm en t of research body on t h e i n creasi ng i m port an ce of t h i s i ssu e i n bot h pract i cal an d academ i c aspect s. Thu s t h e paper ai m s to prov i de a f ram ework t o un derst an d th e dev el opm en t s i n t h e li t erat u re as well as h i gh li gh t areas f or f u t u re research . Th e obj ect i v es of t h i s paper are t o: (a) Report an d rev i ew v ari ou s perspect i v es on t h e t h ree di m en si on al con cu rr en t eng i n eeri ng ; (b) Hi gh li gh t t h e research m et h ods an d i n du st ry sect ors th at are prev al en t or m i ssi ng ; (c) Iden ti f y th e g aps ex i s t i ng i n t h e li terat u re an d sugg est a f ew research di rect i on s. Th e rem ai n der of t h i s paper i s org an i z ed as f oll ows. Sect i on 2 i s dev ot ed t o rev i ew t h e con cept of t h ree di m en si on al con cu rr en t eng i n eeri ng . I n sect i on 3 we bri ef l y descri be t h e m et h od of coll ect i ng rel ev an t papers. In t h e n ex t t h ree sect i on s we will org an i z e th e li t erat u re based on t h e obj ect i v es of ou r stu dy . Af ter t h at , i n secti on 7 we will di scu ss t h e g aps i den t i f i ed i n t h e li t er atu re an d f i n all y i n t h e ei gh t h sect i on som e proposi t i on s f or f u tu re research will be presen t ed. 2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Th e con cept of con cu rren t eng i n eeri ng as def i n ed by O' Grady an d Young (1991) i s t h e con si derat i on du ri ng t h e desi gn ph ase, of t h e f act ors associ at ed wi th t h e li f e