Just in Tim

JIT is a philosophy of continuous improvement in which non-value-adding activities (or wastes) are identified and removed for the purposes of: reducing cost, improving quality, improving performance, improving delivery, adding flexibility, and increase innovativeness.

JIT is not about automation; it eliminates waste by providing the environment to perfect and simplify the processes. JIT is a collection of techniques used to improve operations and it can also be a new production system that is used to produce goods or services.

The American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) definition of JIT: "A philosophy of manufacturing based on planned elimination of all waste and continuous improvement of productivity. It encompasses the successful execution of all manufacturing activities required to produce a final product, from design engineering to delivery and including all stages of conversion from raw material onward. The primary elements include having only the required inventory when needed; to improve quality to zero defects; to reduce lead time by reducing setup times, queue lengths and lot sizes; to incrementally revise the operations themselves; and to accomplish these things at minimum cost."

When the JIT principles are implemented successfully, significant competitive advantages are realized. JIT principles can be applied to all parts of an organization: order taking, purchasing, operations, distribution, sales, accounting, and design. JIT usually identifies seven prominent types of waste to be eliminated: overproduction, waiting/idle time, transportation, inventory, processing, product defects, and