Agile Supply Chain

NAME - PRATHEEK.P
USN - 4SN20BA049
Definition & Example

An Agile supply chain can be defined as one that is flexible and adjustable
to meet unexpected needs. Learn about the role of Agility in business and
the meaning of an agile supply chain, and get a glimpse of agility in action
with a real-world example.
Agility in Business
Turn on the television any given Saturday or Sunday during the fall, and you'll see
professional and collegiate football players going head to head on the gridiron. The few
athletes who make a successful career out of playing the sport professionally exhibit
several important characteristics. Among them is the idea of agility, or maintaining and
controlling their bodies while moving quickly and nimbly in order to bust through the
line and best their competition.

Agility in business is a similar concept. It means that companies have the ability to
respond quickly, adapt to their environment, and maintain momentum while doing so.
One area where agility is particularly important is in the supply chain, or the way
products are produced and delivered. In fact, the concept is so important it has coined
its own phrase: the agile supply chain.
An Agile Supply Chain?
You already know from the opening of the lesson that agility refers to speed
and efficiency. An agile supply chain is focused on speed, cost efficiency,
responsiveness, flexibility, and productivity in the production and delivery of
goods.

Those are all good characteristics, right? Combined, they define what an agile
supply chain is: a system of product distribution that is concerned with doing
things quickly, saving costs, being responsive to the market and consumer
demands, maintaining flexibility, and keeping productivity at all-time highs.
Agility in Action
One business that gets agile supply chain right is clothing and accessory retailer Zara.
Founded in 1975 in Spain, the company is under the umbrella of Inditex, the world's
largest apparel retailer. In mid-2017, the Zara brand was valued at more than $11
billion. A brand with that kind of power must be doing something right. You might say
that the secret to Zara's success is really no secret at all: it's all in its agile supply
chain.

Zara's strategy starts with its runway copycat designs, which it designs and sends to
its stores all around the world within as little as 21 days. Once products are on store
shelves, the attention turns to sales associates and store managers who interact with
customers to gauge interest and ideas about everything from their design
preferences to how they'd make existing products better.