International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

Martin Christopher; Denis Towill

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110394914

The latter part of the twentieth century saw the lean production paradigm positively impact many market sectors ranging from automotive through to construction. In particular there is much evidence to suggest that level scheduling combined with the elimination of muda has successfully delivered a wide range of products to those markets where cost is the primary order winning criteria. However, there are many other markets where the order winner is availability. This has led to the emergence of the agile paradigm typified by "quick response" and similar initiatives. Nevertheless, "lean" and "agile" are not mutually exclusive paradigms and may be married to advantage in a number of different ways. This paper explores ways in which hybrid strategies can be developed to create cost-effective supply chains and proposes an integrated manufacture/logistics model for enabling the essential infrastructure.

Damien J. Power; Amrik S. Sohal; Shams‐Ur Rahman

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110394923

This paper analyses results from a survey of 962 Australian manufacturing companies in order to identify some of the factors critical for successful agile organizations in managing their supply chains. Analysis of the survey results provided some interesting insights into factors differentiating "more agile" organizations from "less agile" organizations. "More agile" companies from this study can be characterized as more customer focused, and applying a combination of "soft" and "hard" methodologies in order to meet changing customer requirements. They also see the involvement of suppliers in this process as being crucial to their ability to attain high levels of customer satisfaction. The "less agile" group, on the other hand, can be characterized as more internally focused with a bias toward internal operational outcomes. They saw no link between any of the independent variables and innovation, and appear to see technology as more closely linked to the promotion of these operational outcomes than to customer satisfaction. The role of suppliers for this group is to support productivity and process improvement rather than to promote customer satisfaction.

Mark Barratt; Alexander Oliveira

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110394932

Supply chain integration (or synchronisation) is to a large extent still only a promise, despite many considerable efforts by organisations and their customers and suppliers. Lack of visibility of true consumer demand and collaborative relationships based upon joint decision making remain significant barriers to the goal of supply chain integration. Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) is a strategy which promises to overcome these barriers, and seeks through joint planning, joint decision making and the development of a clearer understanding of the dynamics of the supply chain replenishment process to deliver some of the promised benefits of actual supply chain integration. Despite the existence of a detailed and comprehensive process model, and promising initial results there has not been widespread adoption of CPFR, justifying the need to revisit the process model and to further explore the inhibitors and enablers. Based upon a review of the existing literature and a comprehensive survey of participants in existing CPFR implementations, this paper identifies the critical inhibitors and makes some proposals as to how these inhibitors may be overcome.

Remko I. van Hoek

2001 International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management

doi: 10.1108/09600030110394941

This epilogue offers a status quo report on progress that firms have made in moving closer towards achieving agility in their supply chains. Data was collected through a large scale audit including data from over 200 firms. Second, entry level and move forward reaching practices that can support the migration towards the agile supply chain are offered, including references to real life examples.