Leagile supply chain is a supply chain that benefits an environment characterized by high predictable demand and a wide variety of items occurring in smaller volumes. In other words, it provides a substantial opportunity leveraging the benefits of both agile and lean supply chain systems. In a wide range of products and markets, some products tend to have a stable demand that is predictable. On the same markets, some product’s demand is unstable hence not predictable (Maharaja et. al, 2018) . In such a case, the firms supplying in such markets consider employing leagile supply chain. The main reason as to why this happens lies in the fact that the supply chain is flexible on either lean or agile supply chain. The implication here is that the system contains the flexibility of agile supply chain when there is a wider variety of items and demand is unpredictable and flexibility on lean supply chain when there is high variety and the demand is predictable (Kumar et. al, 2019).
A Leagile supply chain has numerous advantages in a market operated by different firms. First, it is effective in providing the customers with a maximum value of products in the market. The flexibility characterizing the leagile supply chain system helps in distributing the benefits of both agile and lean supply chain to the customers in the market (Goldsby et. al, 2006). Moreover, since it combines cases when the demand of the products is stable and when it is volatile and when there are varieties of products in the market with dynamic demand, the customer gets the maximum value of the products supplied in the market.
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Additionally, Leagile supply chain enhances the firm’s flexibility towards dynamic needs from the customers. The dynamic demand results from changing the need of the consumers regarding the goods supplied in the markets. Through the integration of the leagile supply chain, firms are able to apply the necessary strategies when the market is characterized by stable demand and when the demand is changing. Therefore, leagile supply chain is flexible enough to enable firms to maintain their stock and cope with dynamic product demand in the market (Fernie & Sparks, 2018) .
Leagile supply chain helps in reducing waste through presenting a collaborative approach that is essential for developing an optimal solution and managing the supply chain for the products supplied by the respective firm. In addition, the system involves both the supplier and buyers in the market that helps in establishing a stable environment for the supply of the products through early supply chain involvement. The wastes identified in this context involves different expenses that absorb resources adding no value towards the firm. They include unnecessary transport, waiting period, overproduction of products and chances when excess stock is withheld with no reason. Therefore, leagile supply chain avoids such waste cases (Naylor et. al, 2000) .
Lastly, leagile supply chain prevents cases of stretching resources beyond the normal limits. This supply chain system helps the firms make decisions on the supply chain that can satisfy the demand in an agile manner. In addition, the supply chain presents significant visibility of demand that helps the supplier make an informed resource plan hence avoiding chances of resources stretching. In cases where the variety of products is high, the supplier is able to make informed decisions for forwarding planning. Following the flexibility in leagile supply chain, the supplier is able to ensure the flow of their products in the market in different environments such as when there are low volume and low variety (Goldsby et. al, 2006). Therefore, the most significant aspect characterizing leagile supply chain is the flexibility that helps the supplier to make informed decisions following dynamic needs from the consumers of the products in the market. The implementation of either lean or agile supply chain depends on the market conditions and the nature of the demand. Consequently, leagile is suitable since it enhances flexibility with respect to different market conditions and changes in demand.
References
Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (Eds.). (2018). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain . Kogan page publishers.
Goldsby, T. J., Griffis, S. E., & Roath, A. S. (2006). Modeling lean, agile, and leagile supply chain strategies. Journal of business logistics , 27 (1), 57-80.
Kumar, M., Garg, D., & Agarwal, A. (2019). Cause and Effect Analysis of Inventory Management in Leagile Supply Chain. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences , 22 (2), 67-100.
Maharaja, R., Devadasan, S. R., Sakthivel, M., & Murugesh, R. (2018). Performance measurement of the leagile supply chain. International Journal of Services and Operations Management , 31 (3), 396-414.
Mason-Jones, R., Naylor, B., & Towill, D. R. (2000). Lean, agile or leagile? Matching your supply chain to the marketplace. International Journal of Production Research , 38 (17), 4061-4070.
