"Just In
Time" Technique…. A Matter of Perfection
From the
very first moment you hear the term "Just
In Time",
you can figure out the underlying meaning it refers to. Even if you have no
previous background in marketing or if you are not graduated from a business
school, you can guess that this technique is based on the idea of performing
tasks in a perfect manner.
Initially
developed by Taiichi Ohno in 1950s, "Just
In Time" technique, or manufacturing system in other words, was first deployed by
Ohno, the successor to Henry Ford's mass production system in Toyota
General Definition
When we try to define the simple meaning of "Just In Time", we can describe it as if it refers to a
process that aim to get materials delivered just when we need them, by that
meaning or definition, you can understand that suppliers will keep their
material stocks until producers need it. From its general perspective, "Just In Time" can be seen as a management philosophy that
seeks to eliminate all forms of waste in production, processes and their
relevant activities, anything not adding value to the product from the
customer's point of view is considered as a waste. Therefore, suppliers
should not provide the material until the manufacturer need it. "Just In Time" directs the production activities from the
opposite end of the line. Rather than pushing materials into processing and
then store them until they can be accommodated. As a result, "Just In Time" technique controls the production line from the
output end.
Development of JIT
Several names worth to be mentioned
when we put the light on JIT system development; however, the most notable
name, as we mentioned earlier, will be Taiichi Ohno as being the creator of the
"Just In Time" technique in manufacturing
and production. In the following few lines we can highlight some of the most
notable names that participated in the development of JIT system.
The first name is Henry
Ford; Henry had
great anxiety towards material waste, in his 1926 book titled "Today
and Tomorrow", he talked about the waste of inventory in raw
materials, work-in-process, and finished goods in the pipeline to market, he
focused on the huge efforts made to reduce the investment in this waste. Ford
also revealed another sources of waste that come from transportation, waiting
lines and efficiency.
Ford has the ability to transfer
his ideas to Toyota
Sakichi Toyota is credited with the
concept of Automation. His automatic loom could determine whether a
thread was broken or missing, which leads to shutting itself down instead of
making defective products.
In brief, JIT is a total management
system that seeks to eliminate all types of waste, by producing what is needed,
when it is needed, in the quantity needed.
