Do not lean too far - Evidence from the first decade

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management

Volumn 2, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 406-424

  Towill, Denis R ^a   Christopher, Martin ^b  

^a CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Agile response; De coupling point; Lean production; Minimum Reasonable Inventory; MRI

Indexed keywords

EID: 63049111578     PISSN: 17419174     EISSN: 17419182     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2007.015840     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Aitken, J., Childerhouse, P., Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R. (2005) 'Designing and managing multiple supply chains', Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 26, pp.73-95.
2. Belk, K. and Steels, W. (1998) 'Case study ATS berk: from arbitration to agility', Logistics Information Management, Vol. 11, pp.128-133.
3. Bowers, J. and Mould, G. (2002) 'The deferrable elective patient - a means of reducing waiting lists in hospitals', Journal of Management in Medicine, Vol. 16, pp.150-158.
4. Bruce, M., Daly, L. and Towers, N. (2004) 'Lean or agile: a solution for supply chain management in the textiles and clothing industry?', Int. J. Operations Management, Vol. 25, pp.151-170.
5. Burbidge, J.L. (1995) 'Back to production management', Manufacturing Engineer, Vol. 75, pp.66-71.
6. Chen, H., Frank, M.Z. and Wu, O.Q. (2005) 'What actually happened to the inventories of American companies between 1981 and 2000?' Management Science, Vol. 51, pp.1015-1031.
7. Christopher, M. (2000) 'The agile supply chain: competing in volatile markets', Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 29, pp.37-44.
8. Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R. (2000a) 'Don't lean too far - distinguishing between the lean and agile manufacturing paradigms', Paper presented in the Proceedings of the MIM Conference, Aston (pp.178-188).
9. Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R. (2000b) 'Supply chain migration from lean and functional to agile and customised', Int. J. Supply Chain Management, Vol. 5, pp.206-213.
10. Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R. (2001) 'An integrated model for the design of agile enterprise', Int. J. Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, Vol. 31, pp.235-246.
11. de Treville, S., Shapiro, R.D. and Harmeri, A-P. (2004) 'From supply chain to demand chain: the role of lead time reduction in improving demand chain performance', Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 21, pp.613-627.
12. Disney, S.M., Farasyn, I., Lambrecht, M.R., Towill, D.R. and Vasa de Velde, W. (2005) 'Smooth is smart: Bullwhip, inventory, fill rates, and the golden ratio', Tijdschrift voor Economie en Management, Vol. 4, pp.167-185.
13. Fisher, M. (1997) 'What is the right supply chain for your product?', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, pp.105-116.
14. Gilbreth, F.B. and Gilbreth, L.M. (1917) Applied Motion Study. New York: Sturgis and Walton.
15. Goldman, S., Nagel, R. and Preiss, K. (1995) Agile Competitors and Virtual Organisations: Strategies for Enriching the Customer. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
16. Gomersall, E.R. (1964) 'The Backlog Syndrome', Harvard Business Review, Vol 42, pp. 105-115.
17. Grunwald, H.J. and Fortuin, L. (1992) 'Many steps towards zero inventory', European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 59, pp.359-369.
18. Harrison, A., Christopher, M. and van Hoek, R. (1999) Creating the Agile Supply Chain. Corby: Institute of Transport and Logistics.
19. Hill, T. (1993) Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases (2nd ed.). London: MacMillan Press.
20. Hoekstra, S. and Romme, J. (1992) Integrated Logistics Structures : Developing Customer Oriented Goods Flow. London, McGraw-Hill.
21. Holmström, J. (1997) 'Product range management: a case study of supply chain operations in the European grocery industry', Supply Chain Management: an International Journal, Vol. 2, pp.107-115.
22. Holzner, S. (2006) How Dell does IT: Using Speed and Innovation to Achieve Extraordinary Results. New York: F.T. Prentice Hall.
23. James, A. (2005) 'Stepping back from lean', IEE Manufacturing Engineer, pp.16-21.
24. Jones, T.C. and Riley, D.W. (1985) 'Using inventory for competitive advantage through supply chain management', Int. J. Physical Distribution and Materials Management, Vol. 5, pp.16-26.
25. Karvonen, S., Räm, J., Leijab, M. and Holmstrm, J. (2004) 'Productivity improvement in heart surgery - a case study on care process improvement', Production Planning and Control, Vol. 15, pp.238-246.
26. Mason-Jones, R. and Towill, D.R. (1999a) 'Using the information de-coupling point to improve supply chain performance', Int. J. Logistics Management, Vol. 19, pp.13-36.
27. Mason-Jones, R. and Towill, D.R. (1999b) 'Total cycle time compression and the agile supply chain', Int. J. Production Economics, Vol. 62, pp.61-73.
28. Mason-Jones, R., Naylor, J.B. and Towill, D.R. (2000) 'Lean, agile or leagile? Matching your supply chain to the marketplace', Int. J. Production Research, Vol. 38, pp.4061-4070.
29. McDonald, M., Rogers, B. and Woodburn, D. (2000) Key Customers - How to Manage Them Profitably. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
30. Mills, R. and Dapiran, G.P. (2003) 'Assembly and disassembly supply chains - how does the application of lean and agile principles differ?', Paper presented in the Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the European Association of Education and Research in Commercial Distribution, ESCP-EAP Conference, Paris, France (pp.1-11).
31. Naylor, J.B., Naim, M.M. and Berry, D. (1999) 'Leagility: integrating the lean and agile manufacturing paradigms in the total supply chain', Int. J. Production Economics, Vol. 62, pp.109-118
32. Ohno, T. (1988) The Toyota Production System: Beyond Large Scale Production. Portland, Oregon: Productivity Press.
33. Olhager, J., Seldin, E. and Wikner, J. (2006) 'De-Coupling the Value Chain', Int. J. Value Chain Manufacture, Vol. 1, pp.19-37.
34. Olhager, J. (2003) 'Strategic positioning of the order penetration point', Int. J. Production Economics, Vol. 85, pp.319-329.
35. Pagh, J.D. and Cooper, M.L. (1998) 'Supply chain postponement and speculation strategy: how to choose the right strategy', Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 19, pp.13-33.
36. Pine II, B.J. Victor, B. and Boynton, A.C. (1993) 'Making mass customisation work', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 7, pp.108-119.
37. Pine, B.J. (1993) 'Mass customisation: the new frontier in business competition', Harvard Business School Press.
38. Potter, A., Towill, D.R. and Disney, S.M. (2005) 'Determination of when a little bullwhip may be helpful', Paper presented in the Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Production Research. Salerno, Italy, 1st-4th August, IBSN 88-87030-96-0.
39. Richards, C.W. (1996) 'Agile manufacturing: beyond lean?', Production and Inventory Management Journal, Vol. 36, pp.60-64.
40. Shewchuck, P. (1998) 'Agile manufacturing: one size does not fit all', Paper presented in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Manufacturing Value Chains, Troon (pp.143-150).
41. Stalk, Jr. G.H. and Hout, T.M. (1990) Competing Against Time; How Time Based Competition is Reshaping Global Markets. New York: Free Press.
42. Stratton, R. and Warburton, R.D.H. (2003) 'The strategic integration of agile and lean supply', Int. J. Production Economics, Vol. 85, pp.183-198.
43. Suzaki, K. (1987) The New Manufacturing Challenge: Techniques for Continuous Improvement. New York, NY: The Free Press.
44. Towill, D.R. (1996) 'Time compression and supply chain management - a guided tour', Supply Chain Management, Vol. 1, pp.15-27.
45. Towill, D.R. (2001) 'Engineering the agile supply chain' in A. Gunasekaran (Ed.), Agile Manufacturing the 21st Century Competitive Strategy (pp.377-397).
46. Towill, D.R. (2005) 'A perspective on UK supermarket pressures on the supply chain', European Management Journal, Vol. 23, pp.426-438.
47. Towill, D.R. and Childerhouse, P. (2006) 'Enabling the seamless supply chain by exploiting the four smooth material flow controls', Production Planning and Control, Vol. 17, pp.756-768.
48. Towill, D.R. (2007) 'Exploiting The DNA of the Toyota Production System', Int. J. Production Research, Vol. 45, pp.3619-3637.
49. van Dijk, S.J., van der Vost, J.G.A.J. and Breulens, A.J.M. (2001) 'Leagile supply chain design in the food industry: an inflexible supply chain with high demand uncertainty', Paper presented in the Proceedings of the EUROMA Conference (pp.366-378).
50. Womack, J., Jones, D. and Roos, D. (1990) The Machine that Changed the World. New York: Rawson Associates.