Just in Time Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Just in Time Systems - Essay Example According to the study conducted Just in time (JIT) is a production mechanism that businesses employ with the intention of returning the investments of a business by reducing the inventory that is related to the carrying costs of a business. It mostly relies on signals that are placed in the different systems of processes and they have to tell the system on what next step to undertake. The intention of JIT is to focus on improvement of manufacturing organization so as to stabilize on the investment. Forecast driven systems have a variety of models which require the user to choose from hence placing a problem on the user. As compared to JIT, the forecast driven systems are time consuming in the aspect of developing and also maintaining the programs that are to be used in operating the different models. JIT offers a quick notice on the stock depletion in an investment as compared to the forecast driven systems which have to evaluate the results of various tests that are run in order to confidently give the results. According to JIT systems, emphasis is on the fact that inventory is a waste and there is therefore need to expose hidden costs so as to effectively manage the inventory and this becomes a challenge for most organizations to adopt. This as opposed to the forecast driven systems is only done by one parameter whereas in forecast driven system, several iterations have to be run. It is here that the inventory is viewed as one that incurs costs instead of storing value. The way of working that is adopted by JIT is one that encourages the businesses to eliminate the inventory from their businesses. Pros of JIT and Lean Manufacturing Systems Employees who have multiple skills can be used by the business more effectively. This is attributed to the fact that the organization is able to move workers to where they are needed easily. They should be trained to work in different parts of the business. This helps to manage time effectively as the company is able to r educe the inventory for the changeover time. The tool used in time management is known as single minute exchange of dies (SMED) (Womack et al, 2003). Effective time management will allow for an easy flow of goods from the warehouse to different consumers. A delay in the inventories is reduced and this simplifies the flow of the inventory hence a flexible management of duties. This leaves a smaller chance for the breaking of the inventory as it expires with time. Another advantage is that work is scheduled with reference to the demand for the goods by the consumers. If a product is not on demand at a given time by the consumers, then the business can easily reduce on the production rates. Money is therefore saved together with the resources and workers may not have to be paid for overtime. This helps the organization to emphasize on the supplier relationships since a company that lacks an inventory may not experience a supply system problem which is likely to create a shortage (Womac k et al, 2003). Creation of shortages makes the supplier relationships to be vital for a business as the suppliers will be able to come in at regular levels throughout the production day. This is attributed to the fact that production relates to the demand and this helps minimize the storage space needed for the products. Cons of the JIT and Lean Manufacturing Systems JIT usually leaves the suppliers and the consumers to the supply shocks and exposes them to huge changes in supply and demand. The removal of the inventory would show a business where the production flow had been interrupted and exposure of the barriers would force the organization to remove them. This would force any business that was in partnership with the organization to improve its own quality hence resulting to a holdup downstream. The businesses would be forced to employ the production leveling technique in order to work out on the variations and this became a challenge for the consumers especially those