Leanness and agility as means for improving supply chains. A case study on Egypt

Supply chain management has received greater attention from the academics and the practitioners, however the literature review lacks a comprehensive view for supply chain management practices and how its members should act to contribute to its overall success (Li el at., 2005). In this era, where the business organisations are working in several challenging threats and opportunities, greater attention is given to supply chain management. Nowadays, companies are always searching for means to improve their supply chains. The main aim of this research is to show "how leanness and agility approaches can be used within the same enterprise as complementary means for improving its supply chain". To achieve this research objective, the research has provided an assessment and summarised the literature on the supply chain management, lean thinking and agility thinking including their importance; their definitions; their practices and the relationship between lean and agility. The resulted proposed framework deduced from the literature has been applied in the Egyptian Manufacturing Business to show the relationship between the agility principles, lean principles, entity performance and the successful supply chain

Understanding the influential and mediating role of cultural enablers of AI integration to supply chain

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been claimed to offer transformational power across industries and sectors. To date, research has largely focused on the technical characteristics of AI and its influence on organisational capabilities. Despite the hype surrounding AI, there is a scarcity of rigorous research that examines the organisational and behavioural factors that foster AI integration in supply chains is lacking. This quantitative study addresses this gap in knowledge by developing a research hypothesis that examines the relationships between supply chain culture and AI. We extend the generalisability of culture to provide novel insights about AI-driven supply chains that have not been reported in previous studies. The findings demonstrate the influential role that cultural enablers have on the successful integration of AI technologies in supply chains, which has implications for operations and supply chain management

A review of frameworks, methods and models for the evaluation and engineering of factory life cycles

Factories are complex systems, which are characterized by interlinked and overlapping life cycles of the constituent factory elements. Within this context, the heterogeneity of these life cycles results in life cycle complexity and corresponding conflicts and trade-offs that need to be addressed in decision situations during the planning and operation of factory systems. Also with respect to the transformation need towards environmental sustainability, there is a need for methods and tools for life cycle oriented factory planning and operation. This paper systematically reviews existing life cycle concepts of factory systems as well as frameworks, models and methods for the evaluation and engineering of factory life cycles. In order to respond to the above challenges, a general understanding about the factory life cycle, e.g. life cycle stages, related activities and interdependencies, is developed and action areas of life cycle engineering are discussed that could supplement factory planning. Following that, the paper presents an integrated, model-based evaluation and engineering framework of factory life cycles. © 2022 The Author

Leanness and agility: A comparative theoretical view

The purpose of this paper is to compare and distinguish between two salient means for improving the management of, and leveraging the effectiveness of, supply chains. Leanness and agility have been considered recently as prominent and successful means for competing. The paper examines the literature on leanness and agility thinking including their definitions, importance and practices. The paper also highlights the argument surrounding the relationship direction between these two concepts. Design/methodology/approach - A systematic comparative review was conducted on the lean literature and agility literature at three levels: manufacturing, organisation and supply chain. The systematic review on the lean concept has been conducted based on articles published over the last two decades. The agility concept review was conducted based on the articles published from its inception in 1991 through early 2016. Findings - A conceptual framework is presented following the in-depth review. The conceptual framework sets out the input, operational practice and output elements necessary for both philosophies to take root successfully. A discussion based on the review of the literature on the direction of the relationship between leanness and agility is also presented, and should also be included in any future empirical testing of the conceptual framework. Research limitations/implications - The paper is based on a systematic review which extends previous research as it has been conducted in a detailed and clear systematic manner which enables a deep understanding of the similarities and differences between leanness and agility philosophies from an operational perspective: inputs, operational and outcomes elements. Future research is required to empirically test the conceptual relationships. Practical implications - Companies are constantly searching for ways to improve their supply chains. This paper seeks to provide a deep understanding for lean and agility philosophies as important means for achieving this goal. This has been conducted by clarifying the differences, similarities and the direction of the relationship that may exist between these two approaches as means for improving a company's supply chain. Originality/value - Based on a systematic review on leanness and agility philosophies, a conceptual framework exploring the differences and similarities between both philosophies from an operational systematic perspective is presented

CHANGE-READY MPC SYSTEMS AND PROGRESSIVE MODELING: VISION, PRINCIPLES, AND APPLICATIONS

The last couple of decades have witnessed a level of fast-paced development of new ideas, products, manufacturing technologies, manufacturing practices, customer expectations, knowledge transition, and civilization movements, as it has never before. In today\u27s manufacturing world, change became an intrinsic characteristic that is addressed everywhere. How to deal with change, how to manage it, how to bind to it, how to steer it, and how to create a value out of it, were the key drivers that brought this research to existence. Change-Ready Manufacturing Planning and Control (CMPC) systems are presented as the first answer. CMPC characteristics, change drivers, and some principles of Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) are interwoven to present a blueprint of a new framework and mind-set in the manufacturing planning and control field, CMPC systems. In order to step further and make the internals of CMPC systems/components change-ready, an enabling modeling approach was needed. Progressive Modeling (PM), a forward-looking multi-disciplinary modeling approach, is developed in order to modernize the modeling process of today\u27s complex industrial problems and create pragmatic solutions for them. It is designed to be pragmatic, highly sophisticated, and revolves around many seminal principles that either innovated or imported from many disciplines: Systems Analysis and Design, Software Engineering, Advanced Optimization Algorisms, Business Concepts, Manufacturing Strategies, Operations Management, and others. Problems are systemized, analyzed, componentized; their logic and their solution approaches are redefined to make them progressive (ready to change, adapt, and develop further). Many innovations have been developed in order to enrich the modeling process and make it a well-assorted toolkit able to address today\u27s tougher, larger, and more complex industrial problems. PM brings so many novel gadgets in its toolbox: function templates, advanced notation, cascaded mathematical models, mathematical statements, society of decision structures, couplers--just to name a few. In this research, PM has been applied to three different applications: a couple of variants of Aggregate Production Planning (APP) Problem and the novel Reconfiguration and Operations Planning (ROP) problem. The latest is pioneering in both the Reconfigurable Manufacturing and the Operations Management fields. All the developed models, algorithms, and results reveal that the new analytical and computational power gained by PM development and demonstrate its ability to create a new generation of unmatched large scale and scope system problems and their integrated solutions. PM has the potential to be instrumental toolkit in the development of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. In terms of other potential applications domain, PM is about to spark a new paradigm in addressing large-scale system problems of many engineering and scientific fields in a highly pragmatic way without losing the scientific rigor

Adaptability of buildings: a critical review on the concept evolution

Our ever-evolving built environment is continuously facing emerging needs for housing, work, health, and mobility, among others. Yet, buildings are usually designed and set up as finished permanent objects, reflecting the one constant scenario in mind of defined form, function, and performance. Since change is increasingly inevitable in our life, enlarging buildings’ adaptive capacities in response to arising variables and changing conditions over their lifecycle becomes a necessity in seeking global sustainability demands. The concept of building adaptability has been a notable subject in this respect, increasingly stimulating and proposing regenerative alternatives to today’s often obsolete buildings. This paper critically reviews the existing body of knowledge on the concept of adaptability in building research. The main focus is made on the evolution of the concept interpretations and related paradigms, and on the development of its applications and strategies in the light of promoting models and trends. Drawing on the literature as a source of evidence, the paper analyzes and classifies the content of existing studies published in scientific journals and gray literature, focusing on a timeframe from 2015 up-to-date. Moreover, the paper aims to build a constructive discussion to identify potential gaps between the actual state of the art and emerging needs, which should be addressed by further research.This research was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, grant number PD/BD/150400/201