90 Int. J. Product Development, Vol. 15, Nos. 1/2/3, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Supporting virtual teamwork in Collaborative Product Development Maura Mengoni*, Michele Germani, Margherita Peruzzini and Marco Mandolini Department of Mechanics, Polytechnic University of Marche, via Brecce Bianche 1, 60131 Ancona, Italy E-mail: m.mengoni@univpm.it E-mail: m.germani@univpm.it E-mail: m.peruzzini@univpm.it E-mail: m.mandolini@univpm.it *Corresponding author Abstract: The increasing product complexity and the continuous need of improving product quality and services force companies to join into distributed and extended networks. Collaborative product development triggers research toward the development of new methods and tools to manage virtual teamwork to reduce time to market. In this context, the paper proposes a novel approach and a supporting co-design platform to manage interrelations across organisations. Experimentations into four product design chains show improvements in communication, information sharing, knowledge distribution, time saving and easiness of team management. They demonstrate that collaborative product development can be usefully enhanced only if tools and procedures are designed for the specific needs of the virtual network. Keywords: virtual teamwork; co-design platform; CPD; collaborative product development; distributed knowledge management. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mengoni, M., Germani, M., Peruzzini, M. and Mandolini, M. (2011) ‘Supporting virtual teamwork in Collaborative Product Development’, Int. J. Product Development, Vol. 15, Nos. 1/2/3, pp.90–114. Biographical notes: Maura Mengoni is a Researcher at the Mechanical Department of the Polytechnic University of Marche. She graduated in Architectural and Construction Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche in 2004 and she was awarded a PhD in Mechanical Engineering by the Polytechnic University of Marche in 2007. Michele Germani is a Researcher at the Mechanical Department of the Polytechnic University of Marche. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche and was awarded a PhD in Mechanical Measurement for Engineering by the University of Padova. He works as Consulting Engineer for CAD/CAM technologies. Margherita Peruzzini did her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the Mechanical Department of the Polytechnic University of Marche. She graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Marche in 2007. Her topics of research are collaborative design, virtual teamwork, industrial design and virtual reality systems.