Lean and Agile model implementation for managing the supply chain

Even though both researchers and practitioners propose several approaches to supply chain management research and the scientific literature shows that several methods have been implemented for supply chain management, the studies carried out have not revealed a formalized process or a clear method for supply chain integration. Indeed, there is a specific way to achieve this integration in the supply chain and there are differences in how one company does it compared to another. More recently, an alternative based on the Lean and Agile paradigms has been presented. The implementation of the Lean and Agile models to the supply chain aims to improve and simplify the production and the process of minimizing or eliminating wastes of all kinds, raise the productivity of the supply chain, increase the capability to respond quickly to unpredictable and changing customer demands and to take advantage of the uncertainty and the volatility of the market in the medium term. The main objective of this paper is to conduct an impact study on the implementation of Lean and Agile models in the supply chain, based on a review of the scientific literature concerning the models implemented to improve the productivity of the supply chain. We aim to identify and analyze the research carried out regarding the implementation of Lean and Agile models in order to improve the supply chain management, the results achieved and future research directions. Although the Lean and Agility paradigms are distinct and can be developed differently, they can be successfully integrated into a well-designed supply chain integration that involves a substantial degree of ambiguity in terms of significance and level of application across different supply chains, in order to increase the capacity to act, react and adapt to changes in demand and supply.