Lean och dess principer är något som mer och mer branscher och företag börjar titta på, allt ifrån tjänstesektorn, sjukvården men även systemutvecklingsbranschen. Flertalet företag inom systemutveckling har gjort försök med att kombinera lean och agila principer i deras systemutvecklingsprocess, detta har skett med varierande framgång. Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka vilka fördelar och utmaningar som finns med att kombinera lean och agila principer i systemutveckling. Frågan som undersökningen har som syfte att besvara är: ”Hur kan principer ifrån Lean production och Agil kombineras för att skapa en uppsättning principer som är mer användbara för systemutveckling?” För att besvara denna fråga tillämpas en systematisk litteraturstudie och intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetoder. Detta för att kunna analysera litteraturen som tar upp hur dessa principer har kombinerats, och vilka fördelar och utmaningar som uppstod vid kombination. Men även att ta fram vad personer med kunskap och insyn inom dessa områden anser om en kombination, vad de anser en kombination kan bidra med och vilka svårigheter som kan uppstå med en kombination. Undersökningen visar att fördelar kan uppnås genom att kombinera principerna ifrån lean och agil, jämfört mot att bara följa de agila principerna. Några av dessa fördelar är kontinuerligt förbättrande, kontinuerligt lärande, mindre defekter och snabbare leverans tider. Samtidigt hade vissa av organisationerna svårigheter med att få ett kontinuerligt flöde, där team eller projekt setup hävdas vara orsaken för detta. Genom att använda lean principerna som ett ”plugin” ihop med de principer som finns i det agila manifestet, förstärks de agila principerna. Men det bidrar även till att organisationen lättare vet vad deras kund anser är värde och utifrån det, kan de sen effektivisera sina processer.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Avocado exports have increased considerably between 2016 and 2019 in Peru. For this reason, it is important that farmers develop strategies in their supply chain that will generate dwell value for their final product. In response to the above, Supply Chain Management Leagile (SCM Leagile) surface. This supply chain strategy Reduce processes that do not generate value to the product and have to rapid response to the constant change in demand for avocado to the international market. The objective of this paper is present a model of SCM Leagile which can be used by the farmers in various agrifood supply chains.

The reverse part of the supply chain becomes more and more important due to the legislation, environmental concerns, higher volumes of returns, etc. As a result, companies cannot see the reverse supply chain as the additional costs only and have to think strategically. The right strategy for the reverse supply chain can help to achieve the competitive advantage. However, there are not so many researches made about strategies for the reverse supply chain yet, contrarily to the forward supply chain. Therefore, the need to adopt strategies for the reverse supply chain appears. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the applicability of the Lean and the Agile concepts in the Reverse Supply Chain strategy, and to investigate the driving forces and challenges for the implementation of the strategy in the Reverse Supply Chain. The inductive research approach was applied in this thesis. The qualitative study was the most suitable for the better understanding of the point of view, the attitudes, the perceptions of the interviewed participants regarding a wide range of issues related to the choice, and the implementation of the strategy for the reverse supply chain. Multiple case studies as the research strategy was chosen, thus data was collected from 13 interviews conducted at four companies: Fläkt Woods, Systemair, Swegon and Rettig ICC. The main conclusions from the analysis of the applicability of the lean and the agile concepts in the reverse supply chain are that the design of the reverse supply chain depends on the characteristics of the returns: the size, the volume, the life cycle, the B2B or the B2C returns; as well the reasons for the returns: the guarantee service/ after warranty service. When weighting the results about the lean and the agile concepts implementation in the reverse supply chain, it appears relatively more likely that none of the companies implement either only the lean or only the agile approach. Due to various reasons, there are different material flows and they require different strategic approaches. The agility is implemented close to the customer in order to ensure speed and high responsiveness. Lean flows are implemented from the manufacturer to the supplier or the third party (recycler, etc.). Even more, the companies seek to find the optimal combination of both strategies, or as it called – leagile. Two different approaches for leagile concept’s implementation are used: preponement and de-coupling point. Driving forces for the strategy implementation are green forces, increasing the demand for improving customer service level, cost reduction, and the new retail marketing strategies. Main challenges for the strategy implementation are the lack of formal operating procedures, the lack of information sharing with the suppliers, ‘false alarm’ returns, the lack of local competence, and the lack of forecasting possibilities.

En la presente tesis doctoral, se desarrolla y se valida una metodología de planificación de la red de distribución de cadenas de suministro de la industria de consumo masivo de alimentos envasados, que se ha estructurado tomando como base los conceptos lean y agile, desarrollados por diferentes autores en los últimos veinte años. Se define, también, las ventajas y limitaciones al aplicar esta metodología y compararla con la metodología de planificación tradicional, a fin de determinar si da mayor valor al cliente de este tipo de industria. El tema concluye con la validación de tres hipótesis, que validan la aplicabilidad de la metodología desarrollada y de los conceptos lean y agile en la industria de alimentos envasados, con ciertas limitantes establecidas en el desarrollo de la investigación. / The doctoral thesis, develop and validates a distribution net planning methodology of packaged foods consumer goods supply chain, that has been structured taking as it base the lean and agile concepts, developed by differents authors in the last twenty years. Also, it defines the advantages and limitations when applying this methodology and compare it with the traditional planning methodology, to end determine if it gives main value to the client of this type of industry. The thesis concludes with the validation of three hypotheses that validate the applicability of the methodology developed and of the concepts.

Customer Demand Uncertainty is a big obstacle for companies to sustain their competitiveness in the market that responding customer requirements becomes essential. Besides companies need to consider also their cost structures which should have in high consistency to survive as well. Lean and Agile terminologies have been investigated so far in cost and responsiveness to customer manner within internal system perspective i.e. product volume and variety. This thesis aims to link lean manufacturing steps with customer demand uncertainty condition following information systems, marketing issues and human factor for management level in framework that firm’s (manufacturer) current condition can be tested according to answers from questionnaires and implementation of assessment tables since it is used as guideline and provides on which level firms are in demand uncertainty, lean and agile manufacturing. This support enables to firms to create their own flexible leagile decoupling point according to their interior characteristics and capabilities in the market.

The thesis study reveals that the position of bottleneck is a significant importance in supplychain process. The modern supply chain is characterized as having diverse products due tomass customization, dynamic production technology and ever changing customer demand.Usually customized supply chain process consists of an assemble to order (ATO) or make-to-order (MTO) type of operation. By controlling the supply constraints at upstream, a smoothmaterial flow achieved at downstream. Effective management on operational constraint willresults in speed up customer delivery. A throughout evaluation of demand constraints isnecessary to gain the competitive benefits over the entire market. The study is based on a conceptual model, comprises of engineer to order (ETO), MTO, ATOand make to stock (MTS) separated by decoupling point. All these represent the particularprocess in supply chain. The important perspective of this study is that the constraints areallocated in particular part of supply chain, which will become the supply chain moreversatile. This thesis study explains the use of detail capacity and material planningtechniques in upstream, midstream and downstream of the customer order decoupling supplychain. A shifting bottleneck concept has been studied in a better way, in order to keep relativestability and reduce the complexity in production management. This thesis study tries to findout some possible factors that reduce the bottleneck shifting in supply chain. This research provides the guideline about the implementation of lean, leagile and agility incustomized supply chain. Also key factors are discussed which are necessary to achieve theseparadigms. Basically leagile is the mixture of both lean & agile strategies. Leagile is inclinedtowards sustaining the flow for mixed-model production. Its intent is to achieve theefficiencies in mass production, while producing a medium variety of products. The focus inleagile strategy is to gain effective control at shop floor planning, including capacity andmaterial planning systems.Different relevant aspects of standardization and customization are considered through theproduction processes. In addition to this rate base, hybrid and time phase material planningtechniques are sorted in different supply chain parts through multiple level of bill of material.

<p>Customer Demand Uncertainty is a big obstacle for companies to sustain their competitiveness in the market that responding customer requirements becomes essential. Besides companies need to consider also their cost structures which should have in high consistency to survive as well. Lean and Agile terminologies have been investigated so far in cost and responsiveness to customer manner within internal system perspective i.e. product volume and variety. This thesis aims to link lean manufacturing steps with customer demand uncertainty condition following information systems, marketing issues and human factor for management level in framework that firm’s (manufacturer) current condition can be tested according to answers from questionnaires and implementation of assessment tables since it is used as guideline and provides on which level firms are in demand uncertainty, lean and agile manufacturing. This support enables to firms to create their own flexible leagile decoupling point according to their interior characteristics and capabilities in the market.</p>

<p>The reverse part of the supply chain becomes more and more important due to the legislation, environmental concerns, higher volumes of returns, etc. As a result, companies cannot see the reverse supply chain as the additional costs only and have to think strategically. The right strategy for the reverse supply chain can help to achieve the competitive advantage. However, there are not so many researches made about strategies for the reverse supply chain yet, contrarily to the forward supply chain. Therefore, the need to adopt strategies for the reverse supply chain appears.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the applicability of the Lean and the Agile concepts in the Reverse Supply Chain strategy, and to investigate the driving forces and challenges for the implementation of the strategy in the Reverse Supply Chain.</p><p>The inductive research approach was applied in this thesis<em>.</em> The qualitative study was the most suitable for the better understanding of the point of view, the attitudes, the perceptions of the interviewed participants regarding a wide range of issues related to the choice, and the implementation of the strategy for the reverse supply chain. Multiple case studies as the research strategy was chosen, thus data was collected from 13 interviews conducted at four companies: Fläkt Woods, Systemair, Swegon and Rettig ICC.</p><p>The main conclusions from the analysis of the applicability of the lean and the agile concepts in the reverse supply chain are that the design of the reverse supply chain depends on the characteristics of the returns: the size, the volume, the life cycle, the B2B or the B2C returns; as well the reasons for the returns: the guarantee service/ after warranty service. When weighting the results about the lean and the agile concepts implementation in the reverse supply chain, it appears relatively more likely that none of the companies implement either only the lean or only the agile approach. Due to various reasons, there are different material flows and they require different strategic approaches. The agility is implemented close to the customer in order to ensure speed and high responsiveness. Lean flows are implemented from the manufacturer to the supplier or the third party (recycler, etc.). Even more, the companies seek to find the optimal combination of both strategies, or as it called – leagile. Two different approaches for leagile concept’s implementation are used: preponement and de-coupling point. Driving forces for the strategy implementation are green forces, increasing the demand for improving customer service level, cost reduction, and the new retail marketing strategies. Main challenges for the strategy implementation are the lack of formal operating procedures, the lack of information sharing with the suppliers, ‘false alarm’ returns, the lack of local competence, and the lack of forecasting possibilities.</p>

A challenge in Lean Construction is how to make it applicable when there is a high degree of complexity and uncertainty. In many construction projects there are changing project requirements, unique products and a need for actions that are highly focused on meeting customer/client expectations. Such scenarios require management methods that are characterised by being flexible and able to react to change. The aim of this thesis is to introduce a method that has such characteristics. Project Management, Lean and Agile paradigms are merged through the application of the fission and fusion approach of nuclear physics. This research is facilitated through a sequential explorative method. In the first instance, interviews with 22 practitioners in the fields of construction project management, Lean and Agile have been conducted. Then a quantitative self-administered questionnaire with 213 useful responses has been utilised to validate the transferability of the interview findings. It is concluded that Lean is not ideally suited to dealing with the dynamic nature of construction projects. Agile methods, which were developed to cope with the high levels of uncertainty inherent to IT projects, are more flexible and able to react to change. Hence utilising Agile-based methods might be the key to the successful utilization of Lean in construction. Therefore a management method based on combining Lean and Agile approaches has potential. Such an approach needs creative thinking to develop a solution that is different to that of “Leagile”. Leagile uses Lean and Agile methods in the execution phase sequentially, through using a decoupling point model to separate the two. This thesis introduces a new paradigm in which such a decoupling or separation does not take place. Rather, project management, Lean and Agile have been merged together to develop a new holistic and strategic framework. The paradigm presented in this thesis is termed “AgiLean Project Management”.

This study determined whether local manufacturers of light vehicles in South Africa employ supply chain best practices and strategies. The research design employed was a combination of exploratory and descriptive research design using qualitative and quantitative approaches based on a survey of light vehicle manufacturers in South Africa. A face-to–face, semi-structured interview questionnaire was used, based on purposive sampling. Descriptive statistics using SPSS software were used for the data analysis and interpretation. The findings of the study revealed that across the supply chain, best practices were implemented to a large extent by all manufacturers. Light vehicle manufacturers in South Africa, however face supply chain challenges, which include technological, infrastructural, cost, market/service and production/skills challenges. The most important supply chain performance indicator that contributes to optimisation of performance is quality, followed by final product delivery reliability, and then cost and supplier reliability. All the manufacturers followed a lean strategy for their inbound supply chain and some had a lean supply chain strategy for their outbound supply chain. A number of them also had an agile supply chain strategy in the outbound supply chain which suggests a leagile supply chain strategy. It was also found that in some instances there was a mismatch between strategies and practices in the area of product characteristics, manufacturing characteristics and the decision drivers of supply chain. One of the conclusions of the study was that local manufacturers of light vehicles do not always make decisions and implement practices in line with their chosen supply chain strategies. The study concluded by developing a framework for determining supply chain best practices in line with a chosen strategy that could guide supply chain managers (in locally manufactured light vehicles) in the automotive in South Africa in their decision making. / Business Management / D. Com. (Business Management)