Mitigating supply chain disruptions: essays on lean management, interactive complexity, and tight coupling

Abstract

complexity, reduce tight coupling, or attack both simultaneously (Perrow, 1999b; Roberts, 1990a).To understand which approach works best, we compare the proportion of supply chain disruptions from groups of processes from a steel processing plant with varying levels of interactive complexity and tight coupling.We find significantly fewer disruptions under conditions of low process complexity and tight coupling and no fewer disruptions when processes are simplified and buffered with additional inventory.Because lean management involves simplifying processes with reduced slack, our results support the benefits of adopting lean management practices to improve supply chain performance.v Dedicated to Gregg and Colton, the loves of my life and my best friends.You fill my life with more joy and happiness than I could ever hope for.