Just In Time - JIT - Steps in Implementing JIT Manufacturing

1. Obtain commitment from the top management.
2. Gain Co-operation of the Work-force. Begin cross training of the work-force. 
3. Start with the Final Assembly. Reduce set-up time, level production, achieve mixed model production.
4. Working backward from Final Assembly, reduce set-up times and lot sizes in fabrication areas.
5. Balance fabrication rates with the final assembly production rates. This may require correction of capacity shortfalls.
6. Remove WIP inventories from the storage rooms and put it on the shop-floor (Point of use storage).
7. Extend JIT to the vendors. First stabilize their delivery schedule & ask for frequent deliveries. Help vendors with quality assurance, negotiate long term contracts.
8. Remove purchased inventory from the store rooms & put it o the shop-floor (Point of use storage).

The attributes of a company likely to be successful in JIT are many, but one constant is a company's willingness and commitment to become and remain "world class" in manufacturing. It is this enabling dictate of management which
makes JIT strategy appropriate to a company. A good JIT prospect is a company which has not over-chased the low wage syndrome but decided instead that quality, responsiveness and competence in production and processes represent
the decided competitive edge over price, and that high cost is a result of accumulated operational activities which should be addressed to, to remove the causes of high cost and uncompetitive price.

Just In Time - JIT - Elements of JIT Production

An overview of JIT production can be gained by understanding the following outline of key elements of JIT strategy.

1. Policies: to provide direction, and to indicate to the work for that management is concerned and involved; cover a wide range of subjects: customer service, elimination of waste, continual improvements, lead time reduction.
2. The people strategy: Positive attitude towards workforce; treating people as company’s valuable asset; Employment as a long term decision; employee involvement, flexibility, small-group improvement activities (SGIA); company unions.
3. The Product Strategy: The design 'quality; integration of product design with manufacturing and-vendor capabilities; role of CAD/CAM configuration control and standardization, grouping products; by families for production through group technology.
4. The plant and equipment strategy: Concepts of focused factories, group layouts, quick conveyance means such as belt conveyor, chute, fork lift; productive maintenance.
5. The process Strategy: Shojinka (flexibility of process in meeting demand)'through GT layout, multifunction work force and job rotation; autonomation (autonomous control of defects), statistical control of defects, set up time reduction, small lot production; achieving balanced production add uniform plant loads through standard operations and mixed model assembly and fabrication.
6. The Planning Strategy: The three month horizon, production plan leveling, Final assembly scheduling (daily buckets) and sequencing.
7. The production scheduling strategy: The Kanbansystem, the role of kanban in achieving improvement activities; produce to exact demand; no contingencies) whirling round tour system.
8. The purchasing strategy: The long-term supplier relations, the subcontractor networks; the transport innovations.

Just In Time - JIT - Continuous Improvement

A central theme of Just-in-Time is continuous improvement. This is a crucial element because it stimulates 'improvement in all of the competitive variables simultaneously.

In the JIT environment, achieving productivity and quality are seen as a journey, and a continuous one at that. The Japanese word Takumi means the continuous pursuit of, excellence. Excellence through a continuing search for better ways to meet the same objective. Excellence in ~kills one must possess to accomplish an uncompromising quality in one's achievements. Takumi is a sort of quality, but with the Japanese mystique of calm understatement. It is more of a quality of spirit, which provides the conceptual framework within which current Japanese manufacturing policies have been shaped – policies with a kinetic obligation of continuous improvement.

The commitment to continuous improvement manifests in the activities of the voluntary groups of employees known widely as “Quality Circles” (also called by the name "Small Group Improvement Activities”). One of the key areas of focus for improvement is the entire manufacturing process, towards the most efficient pattern of flow. The numerous steps of improvement lead to permanent major changes over the years. Problems to be taken up for tackling are continuous1y triggered by exposing them through gradual reduction of inventory and/or work force levels.

Just In Time - JIT - Unlearning Old Beliefs

UNLEARNING OLD BELIEFS

Implementing JIT production in a traditional manufacturing plant represents a big change - in the culture of a company as well as in its operations. Established routines and rules become obsolete. Thus applying the JIT philosophy requires not only learning some "new" ways of thinking, but putting some of our time - honored and cherished beliefs and practices to rest. The following table briefly compare the JIT philosophy against conventional wisdom:

Item	Conventional Wisdom	JIT Philosophy
Inventory	An asset	A liability
Lot size	Select lot sizes to balance set up cost against holding costs as a general principle.	Immediate needs only
Set up	Low priority since, it represents a small fraction of the total time.	Make them insignificant
Queues	Necessary Investment	Eliminate them.
Vendors	Adversaries	Co-makers
Quality	Tolerate some scrap	Zero defects
Equipment Maintenance	As required. But not critical because we have queues available.	Constant and Effective. Machine breakdowns must be minimal.
Lead times	The longer the better (Most supervisors and buyers want more lead time). Keep them at planned levels •.	Keep them short.
Worker Involvement	Management by edict. Measurement to monitor adherence to plan	Management by consensus. The vital ingredient of "ownership" is achieved.

Just In Time - JIT

NTRODUCTION

The JIT: Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing techniques were perfected in Japan in over last few decades. From previously scattered and disconnected ideas and principles ,JIT has developed into a recognizable body of knowledge. Philosophy appears to be at the core of Japanese production management and productivity improvement. JIT is more than just a production and inventory planning and control system analogous to the well-known material requirements planning (MRP) systems. JIT pervades all aspects of the production and inventory flow process, covering not only the work-in-process (WIP) inventories (parts), but also, in the forward direction, the flow of finished goods from manufacturing to distribution centers, and, in the backward direction, the flow from suppliers, and, in Japan, from suppliers of suppliers.

In the broad sense, JIT is an approach to achieving excellence in a manufacturing company. It is a disciplined approach and strategy to achieve significant continuing improvements in performance (the overall productivity and quality, not just product quality, but in terms of the needs of the customer, and the work life of the employees), through respect for people, and elimination of all sources of waste (i.e. of all non-value adding operations and resources). JIT requires and stimulates improvement in quality and productivity of all activities, from design engineering to delivery and includes all stages 'of conversion from raw materials onward. It develops the latent capabilities of all people in the company. It improves the speed and flexibility of response to change by collapsing total throughput time, involving the total network of customers and suppliers. JIT success is measured in trends : inventory and customer service levels as going up, and defects of all kinds, costs and cycle times as being down. In the broad sense, JIT applies to all forms of manufacturing, job shop as well as mass (both process and repetitive).

In the narrow sense, JIT refers to the production and delivery of only the necessary quality parts in the right quantity, at the necessary place, just-in-time (ideally) at all stages of the material flow, from purchase through fabrication, assembly to delivery to customers. JIT seeks to achieve a "production on call" at all stages. The implication is that each operation is closely synchronized with the subsequent ones to make that possible.• It has been said in humor that while the Japanese industry produces small quantities' "just in time", Western industry produces massive quantities "just in case". The objective of JIT is to reduce inventories so that the underlying problems can be solved. Achieving just in time production and delivery is dependent on the balance between the manufacturing flexibility of the supplying work centre and the schedule stability of the using work centre and is accomplished through application of specific elements which require total employee involvement and team work. Theoretical JIT or zero inventory will never occur. However, the resolution of the underlying problems in the process of approaching JIT as an ideal will realize significant benefits.

JIT is, first, a manufacturing philosophy. JIT should not be merely viewed as a set of techniques or procedures but
rather as a mind set. Techniques alone (such as set up reduction, small group improvement activities, statistical
process control, pull system of 'production, etc.) represent a shallow understanding of JIT. JIT is not something one does as much as the way a company approaches all the things it is already doing.