Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Just In Time |
Just In TimeAdverb1. At the last possible moment; "she was saved in the nick of time". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Economics | The principle of production and inventory control that prescribes precise controls for the movement of raw materials, component parts and work-in-progress. Goods are expected to arrive when needed for production rather than arriving prior to need and becoming inventory,. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
JIT causes dramatic improvements in a manufacturing organization's return on investment, quality, and efficiency.
The technique was first adopted and publicised by Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan as part of its Toyota Production System (TPS).
Japanese corporations cannot afford large amounts of land to warehouse finished products and parts. Before the 1950s this was thought to be a disadvantage because it reduced the economic lot size. An economic lot size is the number of identical products that should be produced, given the cost of changing the production process over to another product. The undesirable result would be a poor return on investment for a factory.
The chief engineer at Toyota in the 1950s examined accounting assumptions, and realized that another method was possible. The factory could be made more flexible, reducing the overhead costs of retooling, and therefore reducing the economic lot size to the available warehouse space.
Over a period of several years, Toyota engineers redesigned car models for commonality of tooling for such production processes as paint-spraying and welding. Toyota was one of the first to apply flexible robotic systems for these tasks. Some of the changes were as simple as standardizing the hole sizes used to hang parts on hooks. The number and types of fasteners were reduced in order to standardize assembly steps and tools. In some cases identical subassemblies could be used in several models.
Toyota engineers then determined that the remaining critical retooling operation was the time to change the stamping dies used for body parts. Traditionally, these were adjusted by hand, with crowbars and wrenches. It sometimes took as long as several days to install a large (multiton) die set and achieve acceptable quality. Further, these were usually installed one at a time by a team of experts, so that the line would be down for several weeks.
Toyota implemented a program called "The Single Minute Exchange of Die," SMED. With very simple fixtures, measurements were substituted for adjustments. Almost immediately, die change times fell to about a half hour. At the same time, quality of the stampings became controlled by a written recipe, reducing the skill reuqired for the change. Analysis showed that the remaining time was used to search for hand tools, and move dies. Procedural changes (moving the new die in place with the line in operation) and dedicated tool-racks reduced die change times to as little as 40 seconds. Dies were changed in a ripple through the factory, as a new product began flowing.
After SMED, economic lot sizes fell to as little as one vehicle in some Toyota plants.
Carrying the process into parts-storage made it possible to store as little as one part in each assembly station. When a part disappeared, that was used as a sign to produce or order a new part.
Some surprising things occurred. A huge amount of cash appeared, apparently from nowhere, as in-process inventory was built out and sold. This by itself generated tremendous enthusiasm in upper management.
Another surprising effect was that the response time of the factory fell to about a day. This improved customer satisfaction by providing vehicles usually within a day or two of the minimum economic shipping delay.
Also, many vehicles began to be built to order, completely eliminating any risk that they would not be sold. This dramatically improved the company's return on equity by eliminating a major source of risk.
Since assemblers no longer had a choice of which part to use, every part had to fit perfectly. The result was a severe quality assurance crisis, and a dramatic improvement in product quality. Eventually Toyota redesigned every part of its vehicles to eliminate or widen tolerances, while simultaneously implementing careful statistical controls. (See Total Quality Management). Toyota had to test and train suppliers of parts in order to assure quality and delivery. In some cases, they eliminated multiple suppliers.
When a process problem or bad parts surfaced on the production line, the entire production line had to be slowed, or even stopped. No inventory meant that a line could not operate from in-process inventory while a production problem was fixed. Many people in Toyota confidently predicted that the initiative would be abandoned for this reason. In the first week, line stops occurred almost hourly. However, by the end of a month, the rate had fallen to a few line stops each day. In six months, line stops had so little economic effect that Toyota had an overhead pull-line, similar to a bus bell-pull, that permitted any worker on the production line to order a line stop for a process or quality problem. Even with this, line stops fell to a few per week.
The result was a factory that became the envy of the industrialized world, and which has since been widely emulated.
History
Effects
See also
Finding related topics
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Just in time."
Synonym: Just In TimeSynonym: in the nick of time (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Occasion | Adverb: opportunely; Adjective: in proper course, in due course, in proper season, in due season, in proper time, in due time; for the nonce; in the nick of time, in the fullness of time; all in good time; just in time, at the eleventh hour, now or never. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I saw that just in time. (White Heat; writing credit: Virginia Kellogg; Ivan Goff) | |
Lyrics | Just in time I will save the day (Glory Of Love; performing artist: Peter Cetera) So push rewind just in time (Then The Morning Comes; performing artist: Smash Mouth) And I've got to let her know just in time before I go. (I've Got to Get a Message to You; performing artist: The Bee Gees) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Just in Time (1929) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Pogo]. You're just in time, Mole .. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Critical moments. Pa and Ma arrive unexpectedly just in time for one of the college games --. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Winnie the Pooh | A.A. Milne | 'Because when you have been walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody's house, and he says, "Hallo, Pooh you're just in time for a little smackerel of something," and you are, then it's what I call a Friendly Day.' |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | There is an increasing trend to make things just in time, which will spur more investments to bring in the necessary new technology. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expression using "just in time": delivery just in time message. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
just in time | 258 |
just in time inventory | 55 |
just in time manufacturing | 24 |
just in time delivery | 12 |
just in time management | 8 |
just in time jit | 8 |
just in time inventory management | 6 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "just in time"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | system med levering til rette tid (just in time delivery system). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | systeem van levering-bij-verwerking (just in time delivery system), fabricage in kleine series (just in time manufacture, just in time production). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | viime hetkessä (at the last minute, only just in time), tulin kotiin paraiksi illalliselle (I came home just in time for dinner). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
French | système de livraison juste temps (just in time delivery system), production en ordonnancement optimalisé (just in time manufacture, just in time production), production en juste temps (just in time manufacture, just in time production), production en flux tendus (just in time manufacture, just in time production), livraison juste temps (delivery just in time message), DELJIT (delivery just in time message). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
German | gerade rechtzeitiges Liefersystem (just in time delivery system), bedarfsorientierte Fertigung (just in time manufacture, just in time production). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | éppen jókor (in the nick of time, none too soon). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | sistema di fornitura appena in tempo (just in time delivery system), produzione Just in Time (just in time manufacture, just in time production). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | "れ"れ (on the margin, on the verge of, very close to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | すれすれ (on the margin, on the verge of, very close to). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ustjay inay imetay tocmai la timp. (various references) justo a tiempo (in the nick of time, under the wire). (various references) як раз вчасно. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-i-j-m-n-s-t-t-u" | |
-2 letters: mintiest, minutest, mutinies. | |
-3 letters: intuits, jutties, minuets, minutes, mistune, mitiest, mittens, mutines, smitten, tiniest, unities. | |
-4 letters: imines, intime, intuit, jesuit, minuet, minute, mitten, mutest, mutine, seniti, sitten, tenuis, tenuti, titmen, unites, unties. | |
-5 letters: emits, etuis, imine, inset, intis, items, jutes, menus, metis, miens, mines, minis, mints, minus, mites, mitis, mitts, munis, mutes, mutts, neist. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Fiction 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
