Leagility: Integrating the lean and agile manufacturing paradigms in the total supply chain

As the lean thinking and agile manufacturing paradigms have been developed there has been a tendency to view them in a progression and in isolation. This article shows that this is too simplistic a view. The use of either paradigm has to be combined with a total supply chain strategy particularly considering market knowledge and positioning of the decoupling point as agile manufacturing is best suited to satisfying a fluctuating demand and lean manufacturing requires a level schedule. This view is supported by consideration of a PC supply chain case study.