A comparison between lean and visibility approach in supply chain planning

Nowadays, competition increases more and more in the market and it is moved from firm vs firm to supply chain vs supply chain. Therefore, supply chains (SC) are always looking to improve their efficiency to excel in the market. In order to do that, SC managers pay much attention to the coordination among SC members. SC planning allows the coordination among the SC players. In the literature, many SC planning approaches have been developed and analyzed, but up to now, the debate on which is the best approach is an open issue. On the other hand, lean approach is becoming more and more popular among SC managers. Both practitioners and academics have recognized the importance of Lean approach for single firm efficiency. This paper aim at evaluating the impact of Lean approach implementation in supply chain planning tasks. It provides an in-depth analysis of Lean SC planning policy impact on SC performances and compare it with traditional EOQ and Visibility policies. The influence of SC planning policies and of external parameters is assessed in a DES simulation study. The simulation model tests a multi-product three-echelon supply chain. Lean "pull" principle is developed through Kanban system implementation and Lean "create the flow" principle is developed through setup time and batch size reductions. The simulation study analyses inventory level, transportation performance and service level performances. According to simulation outputs a total SC logistic costs have been evaluated for each scenario. The results provide new insights suggesting that Lean supply chain planning policy gives competitive advantages. The results have important consequences for implementation of Lean concepts in practice in SC planning tasks