Author:
Stefan Trzcieliński
Affiliation:
Poznan University of Technology, Institute of Management Engineering, Poland
Keyword(s):
Agility, Agile manufacturing, Lean manufacturing, Agile enterprise, Virtual enterprise, Information technology.
Abstract:
After lean production, agile manufacturing is considered to be the current paradigm for manufacturing businesses. However authors who write on this subject use the term as a synonym of agile enterprise, agile supply chain, and from the other side, even as a synonym of lean manufacturing. Each of these expressions have a different area of meaning, is connected with different scope of agility, and although in some cases they cane be used interchangeable, it should be done with an intent. In this paper the different scopes of agility are treated as its forms. In consistency a presumption is taken that there is no only one proper form of enterprise’s agility and that contingency approach should be applied when deciding about the form. Each of these forms are presented including IT that supports the particular form.