Stepping back from lean [lean vs agile manufacturing]

There is an ongoing debate in the UK manufacturing sector whether manufacturers should adopt lean manufacturing strategies or instead use agile practices. Adding to the confusion are those who suggest that most things presented as agile practices are in fact lean production practices on one hand, and those who believe that lean and agile are two entirely separate concepts on the other. The blurring of the boundaries between the pure concept of agility advocated mainly by academics and the practical implementation among manufacturing companies is to be expected. Whether any but a select few can truly benefit from the type of holistic agile enterprise espoused by academia is open to question, but what is not in question is that some form of agility coupled with existing strategies will enable manufacturers to better meet the needs of an ever more demanding customer. Meanwhile, there are those who believe that the relative success of lean will not be decided in academic journals but in the industrial marketplace for ideas because it has a solid content and track record and is delivering real results for people in a huge range of industries. Ultimately, it will be the marketplace and not the academics who will make the choice between lean and agile.