What is agility? [agile manufacturing]

Agile manufacturing sprang to prominence in the USA in 1992 when the Agile Manufacturing Forum was set up. The term is generally less commonly used in the UK, but there is great interest in a number of its constituent elements, such as mass customisation and virtual companies. The concept of agile manufacturing is trying to address new ways of running companies, which will enable them to compete in the future. It is based on an evolving vision of what companies will look like in 10 to 20 years´ time, taking an all-encompassing view. This does not discount the value of some existing approaches, and thus the recipe for agility contains some elements of current approaches as well as new ones. The author identifies the elements of agility, and how they relate to the other buzzwords of our time