Peter McCullen

The Impact of Agile Manufacturing on Supply Chain Dynamics

Traditional supply chains can greatly amplify changes in end‐customer demand and thereby produce their own internally generated boom‐and‐bust scenarios. Improvement in supply chain performance is often greatly separated by time (many months) and distance (many miles) from the action taken to trigger better customer service coupled with lower stockholdings. A global long‐term view must therefore be taken if we are to be sure that enhancement is real and permanent. This paper outlines the problem areas associated with supply chain dynamics and reviews a set of Supply Chain Material Flow Principles originally based on established results from simulation models and observation of good industrial practice. The paper further shows that these Principles were embedded in an Agile Manufacturing Program undertaken in order to re‐engineer a real‐world mechanical precision products global supply chain. Subsequent improvements in supply chain dynamics recorded include a 45 per cent reduction in global inventory and the damping of supply chain amplification patterns by up to 58 per cent.

Achieving lean supply through agile manufacturing

Drawing on results from supply chain modelling and dynamic simulation, presents four material flow principles which can be employed to reduce the bullwhip effect. A case study from the precision mechanical engineering sector is employed to illustrate the effect of rapid response manufacturing and supply chain integration. Analysis of six years of time‐series data indicates bullwhip reduction of up to 58 per cent. These results serve to validate the four material flow principles of selecting appropriate control systems, time‐compression, information transparency, and echelon elimination. They also raise interesting questions concerning the relationship between manufacturing agility and lean supply. For, by attenuating bullwhip the studied company was able to reduce their global inventory by 45 per cent. Thus, by viewing manufacturing in the context of the supply chain as a whole, it is possible to see how agile manufacturing can eliminate sources of variability induced waste; particularly inventory. In thi...

The F1 Supply Chain: Adapting The Car To The Circuit-The Supply Chain To The Market

Analogies can be a powerful way of understanding and improving industrial performance. This paper exploits the similarities between Formula 1 competition and racing car design and supply chain competition and supply chain design, as a way of understanding and managing change. Just as the performance characteristics of a racing car must be aligned to the requirements of the track, so the performance of a supply chain must be aligned to the requirements of its market(s) and product(s). We present a framework for graduated re-alignment of the supply chain; extending through agility, adaptability and transformation. The possibilities for aligning and re-aligning supply chains are reviewed in terms of seven operational dimensions. The approach is illustrated using examples drawn from the Mechanical Precision, Paper Distribution and Chemical market sectors. The extent to which a supply chain is agile and adaptable, together with the recognition of the need for periodic transformation is an important conclusion for supply chain designers.

Improving supply chain performance through auditing: a change management perspective

Purpose – Quick scan audit methodology (QSAM) has been adapted to include some change management practices. This paper seeks to relate how the companys dissemination feedback presentation sessions and implementation team‐work added value to the established QSAM by: offering a new method of demonstrating a “listening ear” to employees, providing enhanced verification of the QS results, increasing “buy in” and offering the possibility of a deeper knowledge transfer and increased audit accuracy.Design/methodology/approach – This action research project is oriented around diagnosis and improvement of Company As production‐planning process using an adapted QSAM procedure, and a qualitative investigation into the effect of increasing employee participation in QSAM with a view to increasing its potential as a change management tool. The primary research was largely conducted through semi‐structured interviews designed according to role. An important change management dimension of the primary research was to cl...

Generative equality, work and the Third Way

Equality has been ‘the polestar of the Left’,1 and the redefinition of this concept by Giddens and New Labour marks a significant departure from post-war social democratic goals. Giddens’s Third Way rests on his social theory of modernisation and globalisation, and employs the notion of ‘generative equality’ to propose a new model for social policy. This chapter explores Giddens’s idea of ‘generative equality’ in the form of a critique from a managerial perspective. It is shown that Giddens’s prescriptions for the creation of generative welfare policies and generative equality have much in common with the management literature of the last two decades, which emphasises the importance of individual responsibility and ‘empowerment’ over Taylorist command and control approaches. However, it is argued that Giddens’s use of Maslow’s needs’ hierarchy as a model for the creation of ‘happiness’ and ‘self-actualisation’2 is open to the accusation of misrepresentation.