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Many manufacturers have attempted to improve the productivity of their facilities without much success. The Japanese, on the other hand, have recently achieved significant improvements in productivity by implementing JIT. There are several reasons for the Japanese success. First, JIT adheres to well‐established concepts and methods of production and operations management. Second, JIT is a holistic approach to productivity that directs attention to all resources involved in producing a product, and to all factors affecting their utilization. Third, JIT avoids many obstacles to productivity, in addition to utilizing resources efficiently. Fourth, JIT focuses on shopfloor design and operations where resources are primarily affected. Manufacturing managers can learn several useful lessons for improving productivity from the Japanese experience.

Competitiveproduct‐market decisions differ according to the challenges a firm faces, and these variables need to be considered in the planning process. Four actual cases in point: