Just-In-Time is a Japanese manufacturing management method developed in 1970s. It was first adopted by Toyota manufacturing plants by Taiichi Ohno. The main concern at that time was to meet consumer demands. Because of the success of JIT management, Taiichi Ohno was named the Father of JIT.
After the first introduction of JIT by Toyota, many companies followed up and around mid 1970s’, it gained extended support and widely used by many companies.
One motivated reason for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was that after World War II, Japanese people had a very strong incentive to develop a good manufacturing techniques to help them rebuilding the economy.
They also had a strong working ethnic which was concentrated on work rather than leisure, seeked continuous improvement, life commitment to work, group conscious rather than individualism and achieved common goal. This kind of motivation had driven Japanese economy to succeed.
Because of the natural constraints and the economy constraints after World War II, Japanese Manufacturers looked for a way to gain the most efficient use of limited resources. They worked on "optimal cost/quality relationship".
Before the introduction of JIT, there were a lot of manufacturing defects for the existing system at that time. According to Hirano, this included inventory problem, product defects, risen cost, large lot production and delivery delays. The inventory problems included the unused accumulated inventory that was not only
unproductive, but also required a lot of effort in storing and managing them. Other implied problems such as parts storage, equipment breakdowns, and uneven production levels.
For the product defects, manufacturers knew that only one single product defects can destroy the producer’s creditability. They must create a "defect-free" process.
Instead of large lot production - producing one type of products, they awaked that they should produce more diversified goods. There was also a problem of rising cost, the existing system could not reduce cost any further but remember improvement always leads to cost reduction.
Lastly, the existing system did not manage well for fast delivery request, so, there was a need to have a faster and reliable delivery system in order to handle customers’ needs.
Thus, JIT manufacturing management was developed based on these problems.
After the first introduction of JIT by Toyota, many companies followed up and around mid 1970s’, it gained extended support and widely used by many companies.
One motivated reason for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was that after World War II, Japanese people had a very strong incentive to develop a good manufacturing techniques to help them rebuilding the economy.
They also had a strong working ethnic which was concentrated on work rather than leisure, seeked continuous improvement, life commitment to work, group conscious rather than individualism and achieved common goal. This kind of motivation had driven Japanese economy to succeed.
Because of the natural constraints and the economy constraints after World War II, Japanese Manufacturers looked for a way to gain the most efficient use of limited resources. They worked on "optimal cost/quality relationship".
Before the introduction of JIT, there were a lot of manufacturing defects for the existing system at that time. According to Hirano, this included inventory problem, product defects, risen cost, large lot production and delivery delays. The inventory problems included the unused accumulated inventory that was not only
unproductive, but also required a lot of effort in storing and managing them. Other implied problems such as parts storage, equipment breakdowns, and uneven production levels.
For the product defects, manufacturers knew that only one single product defects can destroy the producer’s creditability. They must create a "defect-free" process.
Instead of large lot production - producing one type of products, they awaked that they should produce more diversified goods. There was also a problem of rising cost, the existing system could not reduce cost any further but remember improvement always leads to cost reduction.
Lastly, the existing system did not manage well for fast delivery request, so, there was a need to have a faster and reliable delivery system in order to handle customers’ needs.
Thus, JIT manufacturing management was developed based on these problems.