Quantifying the degree of leanness and agility at any point within a supply chain
Abstract
Purpose
Not many researchers have attempted to numerically quantify a supply chain’s degree of leanness or agility. Although focusing predominantly on food, the purpose of this paper is to propose a simple and universal methodology to quantify the degrees of leanness and agility at any point within any supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
Daily processing capacities of stochastic model runs and real supply chain data were projected onto a standardized Euclidean surface. Indexes that calculate, amongst others, the agility, leanness, baseline production and ceiling conditions were derived.
Findings
The indexes were often well correlated across the various supply chains. Leanness correlates negatively with agility, as can be expected, however, these attributes do not stand opposed to each other. Most supply chains seem to exhibit both lean and agile attributes simultaneously. Sugar, various types of tomatoes, avocado and onion supply chains are discussed and compared. Although a large amount of data were analysed, there exists an opportunity to widen this study significantly.
Originality/value
This paper presents a unique and simple approach to quantify the degree of supply chain leanness and agility. Although these terms are often used, only a few authors have made attempts to quantify these attributes and in most cases the approaches are relatively cumbersome. The relatively simple indexes create an opportunity for supply chain management to measure, evaluate and communicate their strategies along the supply chain and between different chains.
Keywords
Citation
Bezuidenhout, C.N. (2016), "Quantifying the degree of leanness and agility at any point within a supply chain", British Food Journal, Vol. 118 No. 1, pp. 60-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2014-0408
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited