Question

Discuss the “Just in Time” (JIT) philosophy as it applies to the manufacturing environment.

Some items to consider in your discussion:

• Flexible manufacturing
• Setup time
• Contrast with batch production techniques
• Inventory levels
• Quality
• Manufacturing cells
• Problems with JIT

Answer 1

Manufacturing companies operate in very dynamic environment and follow different methodology for inventory management. There are number of factors such as cost of production, delivery of final product, that can make or break the business.

Just in time (JIT) approach is the method of ordering the raw material and received it at the time it is required in production. The use of JIT approach will always need manufactures to forecast the demand of the product and then accordingly, make the decision of raw material requirement.

Points in consideration from the question:

• Flexible manufacturing- With JIT approach, materials as inputs are required as per demand of the product. Hence right predictability makes it flexible for manufacturing to act accordingly
• Setup time-With the use of setup time approach, JIT manufacturing unit is able to manage and regularly deliver small sets of raw materials
• Contrast with batch production techniques-Batch production is the method of mass production and is done in large lots without deep analysis of market demand whereas JIT technique takes market demand forecast and then plan the manufacturing in small lots
• Inventory levels- Inventory is ordered basis the requirement and hence the inventory levels under JIT approach are very low. Low inventory carries low cost and hence it is beneficial.
• Quality- With JIT approach, production is done basis the demand and help to manage fine quality as production is done in small batches
• Manufacturing cells- It refers to the set of different machines arrange in “U” shape for the convenience of production in the lean environment
• Problems with JIT- Though JIT method is low cost and effective in manufacturing process, there are risks of raw-material supply up-down and that have direct impact on sales or delivery of the products to the market.