Just-in-time manufacturing is an industrial engineering production method in which materials, parts and components are delivered to each stage of a manufacturing process only as they are needed, rather than being stockpiled in advance, so that inventory levels and the costs of storing and handling unused stock are minimized. The approach, refined at Toyota's automobile plants in Japan from the 1950s through the 1970s as part of the Toyota Production System, relies on tight coordination with suppliers and a pull system, often signaled with kanban cards, in which each production step draws material from the step before it only in response to actual downstream demand. Just-in-time methods have since been adopted widely across manufacturing industries worldwide.
Facts
Disputed
Origin YearThe current Wikipedia article treats just-in-time manufacturing as a principle within the Toyota Production System rather than a separately dated invention (the standalone just-in-time-manufacturing article now redirects to lean manufacturing); Toyota began building the Kaizen improvement teams that the Toyota Production System grew out of in 1936, but the pull-scheduling idea usually credited as JIT crystallized only over the following decades and the term itself was largely displaced by lean manufacturing during the 1990s. Core PrincipleJust-in-time manufacturing is an inventory strategy that receives and produces goods only as they are needed, scheduling work by actual demand pulled from downstream steps rather than by sales forecasts or output targets, so materials and parts are not stockpiled ahead of use. 1 Just-In-Time Manufacturing
Connections
Associated With
Source Lean manufacturing (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Sources
1. Lean manufacturing (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationPost-war Japan section
the scheduling of work should not be driven by sales or production targets but by actual sales
Post-war Japan section, Kaizen teams paragraph
In 1936, after winning its first government truck contract, Toyota developed Kaizen improvement teams in response to new production problems. These teams eventually evolved into the Toyota Production System (TPS)
Associated With: Lean Manufacturing, Introduction
While Just-In-Time manufacturing focuses on efficiency of inventory strategy to eliminate waste and enhance productivity, Lean manufacturing uses efficiency in its system setups to reduce cycle, flow, and throughput times being the added values to customers.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.