Purchasing for Lean Production: The New Strategic Agenda

The success of Japanese manufacturing firms over a wide range of product categories is well established; however, one can argue that the success of an individual manufacturing system (such as the excellent Toyota Production System) has not been the causal factor. Rather, it is the thorough and speedy implementation of these systems throughout the complete supplier network that is crucial to manufacturing success. In this and other areas, purchasing has played a pivotal role in the deployment of what may be termed lean production. This article reviews the new strategic agenda set by lean production and explores how this affects the purchasing operation. Additionally, lean production attempts to build a new paradigm based on the integration of the different value‐adding organizations within the value stream to ensure excellence in final products and services. The term concurrent purchasing is used to describe this new paradigm. In moving to concurrent purchasing, purchasing is repositioned as a key strategic and operational process rather than an internal stand‐alone function. The achievement of intercompany value stream effectiveness is discussed in terms of improvements within the quality, cost, delivery, and design processes. The key role of purchasing in these processes is explored together with the implications this has for the strategic agenda within the subject at practitioner, education, and academic levels.