SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

The Role of Flexibility in Lean, Agile and 'Leagile' Supply Chains

The Role of Flexibility in Lean, Agile and 'Leagile' Supply Chains

Introduction

Lean, Agile, and flexibility are the main traits associated with Supply Chain Management. Both theorists and practitioners address these traits as attractive not only for entrepreneurial projects, but furthermore for established corporations. As diversity and doubt in the natural environment rises, businesses are answering by supplementing flexibility as a dimension to their procedure strategies. Flexibility may be characterised as the proficiency to change or answer with little punishment in time, effort, cost or presentation (Naim, Potter, Mason & Bateman 2006, 297-311). Flexibility can advance the company's competitiveness, especially for the decision-making method of applying technologies (Chopra & Meindl 2001, 7-16). But managers manage not have a comprehensive outlook of flexibility because they aim more on appliance flexibility than on total scheme flexibility. Focusing flexibility on the implementation of expertise does not lead inevitably to competitiveness (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky & Simchi-Levi 1998, 22-44).

Evidence

The need for flexibility that reflects and sustains the business strategy is not only critical for the success of a company but also because many judgments are combined in nature. To this consider, some scholars (Naylor, Naim & Berry 1999, pp.107-118) believe that a flexible procedures scheme needs the administration and command of distinct flexibility proportions, by investigating the total scheme flexibility. Enhancing a flexibility dimension does not inevitably lead to a flexible procedures scheme (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky & Simchi-Levi 1998, 22-44). Because flexibility is examined as a answer to ecological doubt, in a international scenario, not only constructing, but furthermore provide string of connections logistics and administration can be an significant source of comparable benefit, since material flows powerfully sway enterprise performance. For demonstration, distinct logistic passages of the provide string of connections can be triggered in alignment to face crises for example demand peaks. Then, the output alignment assignments to the plants, the administration of conveys and other conclusions are critical components that can decline the presentation of a broad variety of products. However, opposing to flexibility in constructing schemes, which has been broadly studied, it appears that study on provide string of connections flexibility has been conspicuous by its nonattendance (Chopra & Meindl 2001, 7-16).

Analysis

In too many examples, flexibility is set to gain business objectives. There are very couple of investigations on provide string of connections flexibility and there are even less investigations about the connection between provide string of connections flexibility and firm presentation, which boasts a study opening (Naylor, Naim & Berry 1999, 107-118). Flexibility in provide chains may well comprise a promise source to advance the company's effectiveness and may be a important assess of provide string of connections presentation (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky & Simchi-Levi 1998, 22-44). Supply string of connections flexibility is characterised to encompass those flexibility proportions that exactly influence a firm's clients and are the distributed blame of two or more purposes along the provide string of connections, if interior (marketing, manufacturing) or external (suppliers, conduit members) to the ...