What is Just-In-Time (JIT)?
Just In Time (JIT) is used to describe a management philosophy that encourages change and improvement through inventory reduction. It was first practiced by Toyota manufacturing plants, pioneered by Taiichi Ohno. JIT can be defined as the ideal of having the necessary amount of material available when it is needed and where it is needed. With the JIT system, manufacturers only place order for materials when they need them. It is an attempt to produce items in the smallest possible quantities, with minimal waste of human and natural resources, and only when they are needed.
The goals of JIT are enhancing value-added-activities and reducing or eliminating non-value-added activities. Value-added activities are those activities for which the customer is willing to pay. On the other hand, non-value-added activities are those activities for which the customer is not willing to pay. In Order to maximise the value-added activities, improvement in quality and reliability is one of the main activities carried out. This can be carried out by reducing the number of suppliers and increasing long-term commitments to few suppliers tends to improve supplier quality and reliability. To achieve deliveries only when needed, in the exact quantities needed, also requires perfect quality – or as it is also known as zero defects. In contrast, eliminating unnecessary activities, plant inventory and transit inventory are means to reduce non-value-added activities. For instance, receiving activity and incoming inspection activity are unnecessary under just in time. Besides that, raw material inventory is necessary only if there is reason to believe that supplies are undependable. Likewise, parts or components for processing at some intermediate stage should be delivered in small lots directly to the using department as needed. Reduction or elimination of inventory allows problems with other aspects of the production process to be observed and corrected....