Lean and agile supply chain

With the real-time access to the Internet and search engines like Google and with the increased global competition, customers have more power than ever before. They demand innovative product features, greater speed, more product variety, dependable performance and quality at a best in class and at a competitive price. Furthermore, today’s discerning consumers expect fulfilment of demand almost instantly. The risk attached to traditional forecast driven lengthy supply line has become untenable for consumer products. In this chapter, we discuss how to take up this challenge through a lean and/or agile supply chain. As we discussed in Chapter 3 (see Figure 3.6), a distinction is often drawn between the philosophy of leanness and agility. Like the perennial business phrase ‘quality’ both ‘leanness’ and ‘agility’, there appears to be differing opinions as to what is meant or intended. In their ‘pure’ form three models of supply chain can be identified being traditional, lean and agile.