Do lean techniques compromises resilience of a Supply Chain in Crisis?

 

For the past 10 years, lean techniques like Just in Time(JIT), Heijunka, Kanban, Poka-Yoke etc. has undoubtedly increased supply chain efficiency as well as responsiveness with the introduction of robust information infrastructure and has further scope by digitization of supply chain networks. Adoption of these techniques has landmark effect on Indian economy as well as it increased overall supply chain surplus and profitability.

The lean techniques also posed a risk of less resilient supply chain and Covid19 pandemic has really brought it on its knee. Frequent and long-lasting lockdowns had almost put a full stop on distribution stage (either from supplier to manufacturer or manufacturer to retailer) as transportation was completely disrupted across the country. The unorganized sector which counts for almost 90% of employment in India was most hit as almost 120 million labors moving back to native putting shutters on mfg. sector. More or less all the 6 drivers of supply chain were compromised. This was about past once Covid19 Vaccine starts getting manufactured after its trial 3 phase,how India will respond to it is another critical question. India boasts itself as 3rd largest supplier of pharmaceuticals and will have a great responsibility ahead! Here are some solutions which can help to mitigate supply chain problems as per me. 

This all proves that redundancy is most important in such cases and also raises a question that do we need multiple level of intermediaries in a supply chain? Should the supply chain be decentralized with more warehouses in tier 2 & 3 cities of country? There should be proper trade off b/w Efficiency and Resilience is must since due to lean method the exposure to risk has been increased. Proper Risk Exposure model to know extent of potential risk associated with current techniques. There is need to optimize supply chain in b/w lean & conventional so that supply chain can be more resilient to shock. One must ensure that the Time to Service (TTS) > Time to Recover (TTR) for uninterrupted supply. Digital Twins of supply chain can be used for simulation to beforehand know what are the factors that will adversely affect the real supply chain