Evaluation of leagility in supply chains using fuzzy logic approach

In the changing business environment, manufacturing firms can survive by catering to the dynamic demands of the modern customers. Lean principles imply zero inventory and agile principles necessitate safety inventory to tackle volatile market conditions. The leagile paradigm is gaining importance in the contemporary scenario which includes both lean and agile principles. This article presents the conceptual model of leagility imbibed with lean and agile principles. A fuzzy logic approach has been used for the evaluation of leagility in supply chains. This article is used to compute the performance of supply chains using both lean and agile concepts as leagility supply chains using a fuzzy logic approach.     

A decision-making model for Lean,Agile, Resilient and Green supply chain management

In modern business environments, an effective supply chain management (SCM) is crucial to business continuity. Competition between supply chains (SC) has replaced the traditional competition between companies. Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green (LARG) paradigms are advocated as the foundation of a competitive SCM. To make a supply chain more competitive, capable of responding to the demands of customers with agility and capable of responding effectively to unexpected disturbance, in conjugation with environmental responsibilities and the necessity to eliminate processes that add no value, companies must implement a set of LARG SCM practices and key performance indicators (KPI) to measure their influence on the SC performance. However, the selection of the best LARG SCM practices and KPIs is a complex problem, involving dependencies and feedbacks. This paper proposes an integrated LARG analytic network process (ANP) model to support decision-making in choosing the most appropriate practices and KPIs to be implemented by companies in an SC. To validate the model in an exploratory approach, a case study in an automaker supply chain is presented.     

An institutional theory perspective of business continuity planning for purchasing and supply management

Supply chains are increasingly susceptible to unplanned, unanticipated disruptions. With the implementation of the practices of lean systems, total quality management (TQM), time-based competition and other supply chain improvement initiatives, managers now realize that their supply chains are fragile, particularly to environmental disruptions outside their control. As a result of recent events including 11 September 2001, a system is now emerging in purchasing to manage supply risk characterised as having a very low probability of occurrence, difficult to predict, and with a potentially catastrophic impact on the organization. This paper presents case study research findings examining how and why firms create business continuity plans to manage this risk. Propositions are then presented from an institutional theory perspective to examine how various isomorphic pressures result in firms having similar risk management practices embedded in their supply management practices over time.     

A comparative study of lean and agile manufacturing with a related survey of current practices in the UK

In response to changing success factors and environmental pressures, companies are aspiring to break out of mass production and become lean or agile. Whereas performance enhancements of lean practices have been demonstrated, it is now the case that markets have become increasingly characterized by turbulence, a situation in which reliance on lean practices is insufficient, and that survival requires adoption of agile practices. As a result, a comparative study of lean and agile manufacturing with a related survey of current practices in the UK was carried out, the results of which is presented in this paper. The paper explored the threats to lean and the drivers of agile manufacturing. Using data from a questionnaire survey, four hypotheses were tested, which was indicative of the benefits of agile manufacturing. In contrast to their lean counterparts, agile companies paid attention to a wider range of competitive capabilities. They therefore had a lower range of mean scores on competitive capabilities. Independent sample tests of significant difference in business performance measures revealed that the agile companies consistently outperformed their lean competitors on all business performance measures studied. In addition, a wider range of competitive capabilities and performance measures of the agile companies correlated significantly and positively whilst such correlation was observed for only a narrow range of capabilities and performance measures for lean companies. The results suggest that competing simultaneously on multiple competitive capabilities enhance performance better than a rather narrow focus on cost and quality.     

Evaluation of agility in supply chains using multi-grade fuzzy approach

Modern business organisations recognise agility in supply chains to be a vital strategy for survival in a competitive scenario. The assessment of agility in supply chains is quite important as it is an indicator of strategic agile position. There exists a need for evaluating agility in supply chains for the case organisation. This study begins by developing a conceptual model for evaluation. This is followed by gathering single factor assessment vector and weights by experts. Then multi-grade fuzzy approach has been used for the evaluation of agility in the supply chain. The evaluation exercise indicated that the case organisation is agile; but still there exist chances for improving the agility level. Then the weaker areas have been identified and the improvement proposals have been implemented. The implementation result indicated that there is a significant improvement in the agility level of the case organisation.     

精益与敏捷集成的供应链

市场竞争迫使制造企业运用精益思想降低成本,但顾客需求越来越个性化,要求快速响应．需要企业具备敏捷性。本文通过简单模型和案例,分析精益与敏捷相集成的优势和运作模式。从产品需求模式看,精益供应链与标准化产品、功能性产品匹配,敏捷供应链与定制化产品、创新性产品相匹配。从产品模块化设计以及全球供应考虑,精益与敏捷集成的供应链是最有效的选择。     

Supply chain risk modelling and mitigation

In today’s global competitive environment, supply chains are more susceptible to vulnerability due to the increasing occurrence of internal and external risk events. In addition, the trend associated with lean management, which involves reducing inventory, leads to more dependency of supply chain partners on each other which exacerbates risk exposure of companies in the supply chain. This creates the need for more effective management of supply chain risks. In this research, a methodology based on Bow-Tie analysis and optimisation techniques is proposed to quantify and mitigate supply chain risks. The proposed methodology takes into consideration risk interconnections, and it identifies the best combination of mitigation strategies under budget constraints. A real case study from a high-end server manufacturing environment is presented. Results from the case study showed that the proposed methodology for risk modelling and mitigation can effectively be used to quantify the risks and achieve the required risk reduction at minimum cost while considering risk correlations.     

Performance optimization of a leagility inspired supply chain model: a CFGTSA algorithm based approach

Lean and agile principles have attracted considerable interest in the past few decades. Industrial sectors throughout the world are upgrading to these principles to enhance their performance, since they have been proven to be efficient in handling supply chains. However, the present market trend demands a more robust strategy incorporating the salient features of both lean and agile principles. Inspired by these, the leagility principle has emerged, encapsulating both lean and agile features. The present work proposes a leagile supply chain based model for manufacturing industries. The paper emphasizes the various aspects of leagile supply chain modeling and implementation and proposes a new Hybrid Chaos-based Fast Genetic Tabu Simulated Annealing (CFGTSA) algorithm to solve the complex scheduling problem prevailing in the leagile environment. The proposed CFGTSA algorithm is compared with the GA, SA, TS and Hybrid Tabu SA algorithms to demonstrate its efficacy in handling complex scheduling problems.     

Lean management in the context of construction supply chains

Construction started its lean journey with learning from manufacturing. Unlike lean manufacturing, few studies to date have investigated lean construction in both breadth and depth, especially from the perspective of construction supply chains. The limited understanding of lean construction results in a research problem. This research aims to explore the implementation of lean principles in the context of project-based construction supply chains. It achieves its aim through an empirical investigation in the UK. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies provides this research with validity and reliability. Lean principles are found applicable to both residential building projects and many other types of construction projects. It is also found that lean construction can be enhanced if it synergizes with supply chain collaboration. Another finding is that lean management has a significant impact on project performance. Nowadays, construction pursues best lean practices through both learning from manufacturing and developing its own paths. Similar to manufacturing, more and more construction projects adopt industrialised and standardised production and lean management with supply chain collaboration to become leaner. On the other hand, construction-specific management approaches and information technology (IT) tools are increasingly used in lean construction practices to maximise value and minimise waste.     

基于神经网络专家系统的供应商竞争力分析

供应链管理(SCM)是在IT技术广泛应用的基础上产生的一种先进、新颖的管理哲学与方法。在供应链中,合理地分析供应商的竞争力是优化选择具有敏捷性和相容性合作伙伴的关键。本文提出了供应商竞争力的分析指标体系,构建了一个基于人工智能神经网络的专家系统,较好地解决了对供应商竞争力进行分析评估的问题。     

Lean,agile or leagile? Matching your supply chain to the marketplace

Many enterprises have pursued the lean thinking paradigm to improve the efficiency of their business processes. More recently, the agile manufacturing paradigm has been highlighted as an alternative to, and possibly an improvement on, leanness. In pursuing such arguments in isolation, the power of each paradigm may be lost, which is basically that agile manufacturing is adopted where demand is volatile, and lean manufacturing adopted where there is a stable demand. However, in some situations it is advisable to utilize a different paradigm on either side of the material flow de-coupling point to enable a total supply chain strategy. This approach we have termed the Leagile Paradigm. This paper therefore considers the effect of the marketplace environment on strategy selection to ensure optimal supply chain performance. Real-world case studies in the mechanical precision products, carpet making, and electronic products market sectors demonstrate the new approach to matching supply chain design to the actual needs of the marketplace.     

Leagile supply chain: design drivers and business performance implications

In the context of a dynamic and hypercompetitive business environment, effective supply chain design helps organisations to align resources for improved flow of products and services and satisfy customers’ diverse needs. Scholars have proposed several mutually exclusive supply chain designs such as efficient versus responsive, and lean versus agile. Quantitative testing has revealed that supply chain designs of many firms do not match with what was conceptually expected. To address this mismatch, in this study, a new approach to supply chain leagility is introduced and the impact of uncertainty as the key design driver of supply chains on leagility is investigated. The partial least squares (PLS) was employed to analyse data collected from 299 Australian firms by administering a structured questionnaire. Results indicate that higher performance is achievable on minimising the deviation from a balanced supply chain in which aspects of both leanness and agility are equally embedded. Further, the level of uncertainty directly and positively affects the Deviation from Leagility (DFL) index.     

基于VMI的医院供应管理

医院大部分药品及相关用品属于易逝品,针对该类产品的特点,将VMI(Vender Managed Inventory)方法引入到医院供应管理研究中,通过建立两级供应链库存定量模型(即供应商-医院关系模型),比较实施VMI方法前后,医院、供应商以及供应链总库存成本的变化情况.通过定量比较证实,实施VMI方法可以有效降低医院及供应链总库存成本,供应商的库存成本虽有所升高,但是可以通过转移支付方法,使供应商与医院达到利益均衡点,从而降低供应链总库存成本,获得pareto均衡.     

精敏供应链的综述及展望

系统回顾了供应链策略从精益、敏捷到精敏的发展历程;从降低供应链运作及管理的复杂度考虑,提出子供应链的概念并分析了精益与敏捷子供应链如何串、并行集成为精敏模式及相应的优势;最后展望了进一步的研究方向.     

供应链管理在包装制造业的应用研究

供应链管理思想在制造工业中的应用取得了一定的成就,同样对于包装制造业存在着重要作用,它也面临提高生产力和降低成本的压力.但包装制造业有其自身的特征,并且有关理论还不完善.本文认为供应链中的合作伙伴关系、全面质量管理、基准法和精益思想的实施是包装制造业供应链管理发展的必然趋势.     

Framework for flexibility in dynamic supply chain management

Effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a pivotal issue in the dynamically changing business environment. Dynamic SCM requires integrated decision-making amongst autonomous chain partners with effective decision information synchronization amongst them. By exploiting flexibility in supply chain structures, better performance can be achieved. Similarly, by judiciously employing decision flexibility and the associated dynamic control amongst autonomous supply chain nodes, many improvements are possible. The paper presents a study on the role of different flexibility options (i.e. no flexibility, partial flexibility and full flexibility) in a dynamic supply chain model based on some key parameters and performance measures. Supply chain flexibility has significant potential and needs a greater research attention. The paper attempts to advance the knowledge of dynamic control on effective flexibility exploitation in the context of dynamic supply chains. A simulation model of a dynamic supply chain is used for this purpose. The key results are highlighted along with industry implications. Here each supply chain node involves decision-making. Based on the order and sample information available from the immediate buyers or customers, the supplier selection decisions are dynamically made. A seemingly good decision at a stage based on local information often ends up as detrimental not only to the total chain cost, but also to the total costs of the node itself. These observations are important for the designers and managers of the flexible supply chain systems to arrive at appropriate types and a judicious level of flexibility to attain significant improvements in total cost reduction. The modelling of dynamic supply chains with a focus on flexibility can offer enormous potential to the industry. This paper addresses this interesting and challenging domain.     

Lean manufacturing as a high-performance work system: the case of Cochlear

This paper addresses the Special Issue call for Australian examples of innovative management systems that enable the production of successful products by drawing on a single case study: medical device manufacturer Cochlear. Through qualitative case study methodology, we examine the human resource management practices that complemented the implementation of lean manufacturing principles. We argue that in their implementation, Cochlear’s management team enriched the traditional understanding of lean and its focus on waste reduction, low cost and quality assurance by adopting people management practices as an integrated component of the overall management capability which allowed their people to grow and develop. The combination of lean and HR practices transformed Cochlear to a high-performance work system and positively impacted production processes and output. By examining a medical device manufacturer, an under-researched sector, our paper expands existing literature on lean manufacturing and provides implications for practitioners.     

A systematic review of China’s belt and road initiative: implications for global supply chain management

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects, with its potential political and economic impact being widely discussed since its inception in 2013. Yet the phenomenon has received only limited attention in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) literature. In response, we first conduct a broad systematic review of the literature to assess how China’s BRI is portrayed. Using this as a backdrop, we then distil the likely impact of the BRI on location decisions and supply chain flows. Finally, in a broader discussion of the SCM literature, we explore the implications of the BRI for future research in four key areas: supply chain configuration, supply chain resilience, sustainable SCM, and cross border SCM. While these areas are not new, the BRI presents a unique context that can be used to enhance theory and understanding in each area. The BRI reduces time distance independent of geographical distance by diverting supply chain flows from established routes to new routes via far less accessible regions. This introduces new risks and sustainability issues that call for multi-criteria decision support systems. Another important issue is the adoption and diffusion of the BRI since this will ultimately determine project success.     

Agile supply chain strategy and supply chain performance: complementary roles of supply chain practices and information systems capability for agility

The paper examines the mediating effect of supply chain (SC) practices on the relationship between agile supply chain (ASC) strategy and SC performance. It further examines the moderating effect of information systems (IS) capability for agility on this mediated relationship. Using the theoretical lenses of complementarity and the information processing view of the supply chain, we hypothesise that strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, postponement and lean practices, mediate the relationship between ASC strategy and SC performance. We further hypothesise that IS capability for agility moderates each of these mediated relationships. We empirically test the hypotheses using survey data from members of senior and executive management in the logistics/supply chain functions of 205 firms. The paper contributes to the literature on ASCs by theoretically explaining and empirically demonstrating how SC practices and IS capability for agility act together to effect a positive relationship between ASC strategy and supply chain performance.     

Lean versus agile production: flexibility trade-offs within the automotive supply chain

Given the recent dynamics of the automotive industry in the UK, the ability for a firm to be flexible has often taken priority over other performance indicators. Using the notion of distinct business models and trade-offs as our theoretical lens, the purpose of this study was to: (1) Distinguish lean and agile firms based upon production methods; and (2) Compare lean and agile levels of external flexibility (EF) and supply chain flexibility (SCF). Data was obtained from 140 automotive firms in the Midlands (UK) via a survey which was sent by emails. Findings supported the theoretical notion of trade-offs, as firms implementing agile production methods were found to be more flexible in comparison with firms implementing lean production methods. More importantly, the agile firms that possessed high EF levels and SCF levels were predominantly positioned at the lower end of the automotive supply chain, whereas the lean firms were largely found to be operating at the top of the supply chain. First, we provide an innovative way in which lean and agile firms can be conceptualised. Second, as flexibility levels were assessed on actual numerical values, as opposed to using opinion based Likert Scale questions, a methodological contribution is made. Third, as flexibility is in its infancy stage of theoretical development we make an empirical contribution by developing a taxonomy that distinguishes each production concept. Finally, given the supply chain position to where lean and agile firms were found, we invoked a power perspective better understand this phenomenon.