If you dig into the definition of responsibility, you will see that it is rooted in phrasing that supports “one’s ability to respond.”  Whether one chooses to respond is a different discussion, but if you are not first able, you cannot act on and control your response. The same could be said for agility. Agility implies that you or your company demonstrate agile behavior, so would not Agilibility suggest that you are able to be agile? 

Agility is now the hottest buzzword in manufacturing and supply chain discussions on the tail-end of the most recent black swan event of the recent pandemic. Supply chains were uprooted, twisted, halted and even rendered obsolete in a mere 12 months. We could expect more of the same looking back (thankfully) on the short blockage of the Suez Canal by a grounded supertanker for a few short days. The term Agilest has an origin in Safe Agile _TM project management methodologies.  I suggest that the term be expanded for a broader realm of application; Operational Agility. So how does one become an “Agilist” and how do we measure agility?

Companies should be assessing their “ability to be agile” or Agilibility in light of these recent disruptions. But isn’t agility really about decision making on several dimensions? When agility is demonstrated, it comes in the form of one or more decisions to change the status quo; altering a best practice or set of business rules. These decisions are considered and with some risk management, put into place. The result is manifested in business agility and a new level of capability and performance. The dimensions are micro to macro therefore let’s back up a bit and see how does one come to a new set of rules.  It comes with access to new data through a different lens and context.  Being forced or choosing to look at more data, and ultimately the information stemming from it, in a different light permits one’s ability to decide on a new course of action.  Data with a richer set of context becomes information and knowledge implies one knows and acts on that information. 

Companies are overloaded with data so collecting more does not seem to enable agility. We must parse out the right data, put it in a new context and then make the optimal decisions in their regard. Making your supply chain more agile must first start with arming your best decision makers with an ability to be agile; grow and maximize your Agilibility.

Production Control, Logistics Planning and Optimization and Supply Chain Optimization tools serve to build a company’s Agilibility. By ingesting high fidelity data in context, modeling and visualizing patterns and ramifications of events and variables that influence the desired outcomes of complex business rules, builds a new ability around market and industry agility.  Knowing which patterns determine success and having the proper context that are made evident by IT solutions that possess powerful algorithms and data modeling capabilities brings a new term of Agilibility to the corporate level KPI shelf.

Are you looking to become an Agilist or increase your supply chain velocity and agility?  Reach out to the DELMIA Operations Consulting Team at Dassault Systèmes.

This blog is the first of four in a series on Planning and Optimization. Check back to discover more.