A case study of the application of agility principles to adhesive and sealant manufacturing industries

The goal of this study was to identify the strategic needs of adhesive manufacturing sector of the chemical industry, in relation to agility principles, against an ideal agile manufacturer. In this regard, an agility audit packet was prepared and was distributed to selected personnel in three different adhesive manufacturing companies. The packet consisted of questions relating to each of the four dimensions of agility. These questions covered the widest, range of topics possible in order to fully benchmark the level of agility of each company against an ideal case. Three companies were studied and observations were made with respect to the answers that were provided during a series of interviews as well as an in-depth analysis of the survey results. Our analysis shows that all the three companies, more or less follow the same trend with respect to their operations. None of the three companies in this survey was operating near an ideal agile status. However, all three companies were aware of the principles that would lead them towards becoming agile. It was understood that it would not be possible to attain a totally ideal operation, however, a company could continuously strive to become more agile. To help these companies progress towards this goal, the results were analyzed and a series of recommendations were made. This paper summarizes some of our findings in that regard