And importantly, it can continue to succeed when constant innovation becomes the dominate competitive strategy. Trying to differentiate mass customization or Lean from Agile miscasts all as operating strategies. And asking for the differences between TQM and Agile misclasses both as transformation strategies. Holding off Agile programs until a transformation to Lean production is completed incorrectly assumes that these are sequentially dependent concepts. Rather than close the barn door after the horse has left, a transformation to Lean production will happen faster and with less expense as the organization becomes more Agile.
Agility is a core fundamental requirement of all organizations.
It was not interesting as a focused concept when environmental change was relatively slow and predictable. Now it gains considerable attention and a growing number of proponents. And we will talk more about this next time.