Just‐in‐time implementation in small and medium enterprises

Abstract

JIT is a manufacturing philosophy, successfully implemented mostly in large‐scale industries. Research reviews indicate it is rarely adopted in SMEs; there appear to be problems in promoting and deploying the concept of JIT to such organizations. Reports on a study performed in SMEs to select and prioritize various techniques for the implementation of JIT in a seasonal order‐manufacturing environment through the QFD technique. Analysis indicates that buffer stock removal and lot size reduction were the key issues to be assigned higher priority than throughput improvement. However, this prioritization has to be carried out on a case‐by‐case basis as each manufacturing system has different predefined goals and targets, and is set within a different context.

Citation

Rajam Ramaswamy, N., Selladurai, V. and Gunasekaran, A. (2002), "Just‐in‐time implementation in small and medium enterprises", Work Study, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 85-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/00438020210418818