Just in Time (JIT), as a survival strategy for the manufacturing industry against fierce global market competition.

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CONTENTS

  1. Introduction                                                                                2
  2. How Just in Time evolved?                                                        3
  3. What is Just in Time                                                                        5
  1. Goals of JIT
  2. Elements of JIT
  3. JIT Implementation
  4. Problems in Implementing JIT
  5. Benefits from JIT
  1. Success stories                                                                        8
  2. JIT in the West                                                                        10
  3. Who may not benefit fully from using JIT?                                        12
  4. Technologies and Concepts that originated from JIT                        14
  1. KAIZEN
  2. Lean Manufacturing
  1. References                                                                                16
  2.  Appendix                                                                                18

INTRODUCTION

Just in Time (JIT) has often been considered as a survival strategy for the manufacturing industry against fierce global market competition. The three words say it all, everything happens just in time. For example, consider my journey to college this morning, I could have left my house, just-in-time to catch a bus to the college, just-in-time to arrive at my college, just-in-time to pick up my lecture notes, just-in-time to walk into the lecture room, just-in-time to attend the lecture. Theoretically there is no problem about this; however achieving this in practice is likely to be difficult.

Similarly in a manufacturing process materials could theoretically arrive just-in-time to be picked up by a worker and used. This eliminates any inventory of materials; they would simply arrive just-in-time. In the same way finished goods could be produced just-in-time to be handed to a customer who wants them. So, at a conceptual extreme, JIT has no need for inventory or stock, either of raw materials or work in progress or finished goods.

Obviously this is not as easy as it sounds. It might well be difficult, or impossible, or extremely costly affair, in real-life. However we could move an existing system towards a system with more of a Just in Time element. For example, consider a manufacturing process – in terms of handing finished goods to customers, we would still require some inventory of finished goods. It might be possible to arrange raw material deliveries so that, for example, materials needs for one day’s production arrive at the start of the day and are consumed during the day – effectively reducing/eliminating raw material inventory.

The approach is known by different names, including zero inventory, stockless production, Toyota system, Japanese manufacturing, World-class manufacturing and continuous flow manufacturing.


How Just in Time evolved?

Understanding where Just in Time (JIT) came from, and how it was originated, helps in understanding what it is and how it works.

Most of us who have heard of JIT also know that it is a Japanese philosophy dating from the late 60s and the very first name that strikes everybody’s mind while recalling the concepts of JIT production philosophy is Tai-ichi Ohno, the ex-senior vice president of Toyota Motors. It was the genius of Tai-ichi Ohno that conceived, developed, exploited and polished this simple philosophy into a means of meeting consumer demands with reduced costs, minimum wastes and minimum delays. He was motivated by his first visit to an American supermarket where he saw customers getting just what they wanted, when they wanted it [13]. He is frequently regarded as the father of JIT.

JIT is not a new concept. It has been part and parcel of the Japanese manufacturing industry [8]. JIT philosophy evolved in Japan some time after World War II, as a result of their diminishing market share in the auto industry and their desire to catch-up with Western Companies. Although some components of JIT were already present in Ford’s assembly line in the 30s, JIT as a production philosophy was not refined until the early 70s by Toyota Motors [7]. However, until late 70s, the system was limited to Toyota and the Toyota family of key suppliers and was known as the Toyota Production System [2]. Their main aim then was to increase product quality and reliability. However, Toyota realised that JIT would only be successful if every individual within the organization was involved and committed to it, if the plant and processes were arranged for maximum output and efficiency, and if quality and production programs were scheduled to meet demands exactly. Toyota was able to meet the increasing challenges for survival through this approach that focused on people, plants and systems.

During and after the oil crisis of 1976, the Japanese companies began to realise that their 25-year model of continuous economic and manufacturing growth had been broken, and that in the future they would face ups and downs in manufacturing just like the Western nations do.  As a result, a need for finding ways to increase the flexibility of their manufacturing processes arose, and only then was close attention paid by other industries to the potentials and utilities of the Toyota Production System [6], now known to all of us as the Just in Time production philosophy.

Since then there was no looking back. Just in Time production philosophy has been spreading as an epidemic, not just through the Japanese manufacturing industry but also through more and more of its western counterparts. There has been a considerable interest in JIT in the past few years. The reason that so much attention has been given to JIT is undoubtedly the success of Japanese manufacturing. Consequently, almost every major company through out the world has shown interest in JIT and explored its true potential.

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What is Just in Time?

Just in Time is a management philosophy and not a technique [9]. In its simplest form JIT requires that non-value-adding activities are identified and removed for the purpose of reducing cost, improving delivery, adding flexibility and increasing innovativeness.

Various authors [19; 9; 10; 12; 26] put it as a philosophy with a very simple goal, i.e. produce the required items, at the required quality, and in the required quantities, at the precise time they are required. It is a philosophy of continuous improvement in which non-value-adding activities are identified and removed. ...

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