JUST IN TIME
Contents
History of Just In Time
Illustration of The JIT Process
Elements of Just In Time
The Goal of Just In Time
Drawbacks of Just In Time
JIT (Just In Time) is the name used to describe a manufacturing system where the
parts which are needed to complete
the finished products are produced or arrive at the assembly site as they are needed.
Just-In-Time is a Japanese manufacturing management method developed in 1970s. It was
first adopted by Toyota manufacturing
plants by Taiichi Ohno. The main concern at that time was to meet consumer demands.
Because of the success of JIT
management, Taiichi Ohno was named the Father of JIT.
After the first introduction of JIT by Toyota, many companies followed up and around
mid 1970s’, it gained extended support and
widely used by many companies.
One motivated reason for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was
that after World War II , Japanese
people had a very strong incentive to develop a good manufacturing techniques to help them
rebuilding the economy. They also
had a strong working ethnic which was concentrated on work rather than leisure, seeked
continuous improvement, life
commitment to work, group conscious rather than individualism and achieved common goal.
These kind of motivation had driven
Japanese economy to succeed.
Because of the natural constraints and the economy constraints after World War II,
Japanese Manufacturers looked for a way to
gain the most efficient use of limited resources. They worked on "optimal
cost/quality relationship".
Before the introduction of JIT, there were a lot of manufacturing defects for the
existing system at that time. According to Hirano,
this included inventory problem, product defects, risen cost, large lot production and
delivery delays. The inventory problems
included the unused accumulated inventory that was not only unproductive, but also
required a lot of effort in storing and managing
them. Other implied problems such as parts storage, equipment breakdowns, and uneven
production levels.
For the product defects, manufacturers knew that only one single product defects can
destroy the producer's creditability. They
must create a "defect free" process.
Instead of large lot production - producing one type of products, they decided that
they should produce more diversified goods.
There was also a problem of rising cost, the existing system could not reduce cost any
further but remember improvement always
leads to cost reduction.
2. Illustration of The JIT Process
The basic elements of JIT manufacturing are:
· People Involvement
· Plants
· System
People Involvement
Maintaining a good support and agreement from people involved in production. This is
not only reduce the time and effort in
implementation of JIT, but also minimize the chance of creating implementation
problem. The attempt to maximize
people's involvement may carry through the introduction of quality circle and total
involvement concept.
Manufacturers can gain support from 4 sources.
1. Stockholders and owners of the company - should maintain a good long-term relationship among them.
2. Labor organization - all labors should be well informed about the goals of JIT, this
is crucial in gaining support from the them.
3. Management support - support from all level of management. The ideas of continuous
improvement should spread all over the
factory, managers and all shop floor labor.
4. Government support - government can show their support by extending tax and other
financial help. This can enhance the
motivation, and also help in financing the implementation of JIT.
Plants
Certain requirements are needed to implement JIT
1. Plant layout - the plant layout is mainly focus on maximizing working flexibility. It requires the use of "multi-function workers".
2. Demand pull production - it means to produce when the order is received. This can
manage the quantity and time more
appropriately.
3. Kanban - a Japanese term for card or tag. Special inventory and process
information are written on the card. This helps tying
and linking the process more efficiently.
4. Self inspection - it is carried out by the workers at catch mistakes immediately.
5. Continuous improvement - this concept should be adopted by every members in the
organization in order to carry out JIT. This
is the most important concept of JIT. This can allow an organization to improve its
productivity, service, operation and even
customer satisfaction in an on-going basis.
System
This refers to the technology and process that combines the different processes and
activities together. Two major types are
Material Requirement Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning.
MRP is a computer based, bottom-up manufacturing approach. This involves two plans,
production plan and master production
schedule. Production plan involves the management and planning of resources through the
available capacity. Master production
schedule involves what products to be produced in what time.
The above three factors form the element of JIT.
There are 3 main objectives:
1. Increasing the organization's ability to compete with others and remain competitive
over the long run. The competitiveness of
the firms is increased by the use of JIT manufacturing process as they can develop a more
optimal process for their firms.
2. Increasing efficiency within the production process. Efficiency is obtained through
the increase of productivity and decrease of
cost.
3. Reducing wasted materials, time and effort. It can help to reduce the costs.
Other objectives of JIT:
1. Identify and response to consumers needs. Customers’ needs and wants seem to be
the major focus for business now, this
objective will help the firm on what is demanded from customers, and what is required of
production.
2. Optimal quality/cost relationship. The organization should focus on zero-defect
production process. Although it seems to be
unrealistic, in the long run, it will eliminate a huge amount of resources and effort in
inspecting, reworking and the production of
defected goods.
3. Reduce unwanted wastes. Wastes that do not add value to the products itself should be eliminated.
4. Develop a reliable relationship between the suppliers. A good and long-term
relationship between organization and its suppliers
helps to manage a more efficient process in inventory management, material management and
delivery system. It will also assure
that the supply is stable and available when needed.
5. Plant design for maximizing efficiency. The design of plant is essential in terms of
manufacturing efficiency and utility of
resources.
6. Adopt the work ethnic of Japanese workers for continuous improvement. Commit a
long-term continuous improvement
throughout the organization. It will help the organization to remain competitive in the
long run.
7. Reduction of Wastes. JIT helps significantly in reducing wastes.
WASTE - "anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts,
and workers which are absolutely
essential to production."
This definition of waste is used when combining it with JIT.
Seven Types of Waste to Eliminate:
1. Waste from overproduction
2. Waste of waiting time
3. Transportation waste
4. Inventory waste
5. Processing waste
6. Waste of motion
7. Waste from product defects
JIT can help organization remains competitive by offering consumers higher quality of
products than their competitors, it is very
important in the survival of the market place.
These major objectives are suitable for all organizations. But each organization is
unique in some way, adjustments of JIT
objectives for each form should be made in order to complement the overall production
process.
Regardless of the great benefits of JIT, it has its drawbacks.
JIT has the following major drawbacks:
· Culture Differences The organizational cultures vary from firm to firm. There are
some cultures that tie to JIT success but it is
difficult for an organization to change its cultures within a short time.
· Traditional Approach The traditional approach in manufacturing is to store up a
large amount of inventory in the means of
backing up during bad time. Those companies rely on safety stocks may have a problem with
the use of JIT.
· Difference in implementation of JIT Because JIT was originally established in
Japanese, it is somehow different for implementing
in western countries. The benefits may vary.
· Loss of individual autonomy This is mainly due to the shorter cycle times which adds pressures and stress on the workers.
· Loss of team autonomy This is the result of decreasing buffer inventories which lead
to a lower flexibility of the workers to solve
problem individually.
· Loss of method autonomy It means the workers must act some way when problems occur,
this does not allow them to have their
own method to solve a problem.
· JIT success is varied from industry to industry Some industries are benefit more from JIT while others do not.
· Resistance to change JIT involves a change throughout the whole organization, but
human nature resists to change. The most
common resistance are emotional resistance and rational resistance. Emotional resistance
are those psychological feeling which
hinder performance such as anxiety. Rational resistance is the deficient of the needed
information for the workers to perform the
job well.
· Relationship between management and employees is important A mutual trust must be
built between management and employees
in order to have effective decision making.
· Employee commitment Employees must commit to JIT, to enhance the quality as their
ultimate goal, and to see JIT as a way to
compete rather than method used by managers to increase their workload.
· Production level JIT works best for medium to high range of production volume.
· Employee skill JIT requires workers to be multi-skilled and flexible to change.
· Compensation should be set on time based wages. This allow the workers to
concentrate on building what the
customers wants.
EXAMPLE of JIT in the work place
Just-in-Time at Toyota
Kanban (Just-In-Time) helps companies solving many Manufacturing problems. Kanban
derives it name from the manufacturing
systems and processes implemented at Toyota Motor Manufacturing that are so effective at
producing at low cost, high quality,
and short cycle times. As a consequence, these systems are highly flexible and responsive
to customer requirements. Toyota
capabilities are listed below. Kanban Just-In-Time impact on whole Toyota production
approach as following:
(a) Standardized work
(b) Quality Improvement
(c) Continuous Improvement
Toyota manufacturing processes route the product around the plant to various work
centers where work is staged to be
processed. Implementing manufacturing cells typically increases net income dramatically
and reduces cycle time over 50%. The
cost of design and implementation is usually recovered within the first year from
inventory savings. The benefits of bringing the processes to the product and
discussing the value of simulation as a tool to design and predict cell performance
prior to implementation; therefore, reducing financial and technical risk to the
company. Toyota Production System implements all the elements of Kanban
Manufacturing directed at elimination of manufacturing. These systems are more
flexible, responsive, and profitable than traditional manufacturing systems. It is
best to start with a Kanban implementation which usually involves an assessment of current
operations. Once the plan is developed the system will be implemented.
Books
· Kreitner, Robert, 1998, Management, Seventh Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston.
· Monden, Y. (1993) Toyota Management System: Linking the Seven Key functional Areas ,
Productivity press, Portland ,
or, USA.
· Berk, J. and S. Berk Total Quality Management: Implementing continuous Improvement,
Sterling Publishing Co Inc,.
New York NY.
Internet
http://www.justintime.com/home.html
http://www.justintime.com/home.html
http://www.accelsoft.com/invenfea.htm
BIO
I was born and raised in Liberal Kansas. Graduated from Liberal
High School, and Seward County Community College. Attending at present Emporia State
University. Planning to graduate May of 2000 with a Bachelors Degree in Computer
Information Systems. If you have and questions or comments I would be happy to receive and
reply to them.
Comments welcomed by Matthew Anderson, page last updated July 28, 1999. This is best viewed by Netscape Communicator and settings set at 800 by 600