An Application of JIT and Lean Operations in a Manufacturing Company

Abstract or Introduction

Globalization of businesses has provoked the development of international supply chains. A Supply chain manages all the activities aimed at meeting the customer needs and maximizing the effectiveness of the process. This process starts from the extraction of raw materials to the customer receiving the finished good. Its aim is to satisfy the customer. Supply chain management aims at the company achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. This has initiated the application of just-in-time systems.
Just-in-time is an inventory scheduling technique. It was developed as an operations control and planning philosophy that assisted manufacturers attain consistent improvement in quality of products and productivity of the processes. JIT encompasses stock less production and zero inventories. It broadly focuses on elimination of waste from producing more than is required, waiting time, waste on transportation cost, inventory, processing and product defects throughout the organization.
JIT philosophy encompasses the following principles. The first principle is the operation excellence which requires the organization to be committed to continuous process and product improvement at all departments focusing on proper customer services. The second principle is value added processes which ensures that those processes that add no value to the customer or product are eliminated as they only add on cost of production; every aspect of the processes in the organization should be aiming at continuous improvement. Lastly, JIT techniques are focused towards total quality management and empowerment of employees (Ross, 2004).