Just In Time (JIT) Inventory Management - share your experience

It is said that JIT is a very effective system for managing inventory. However, adopting it also presents practical difficulties. Can anyone shed more light on their experience with it?

Dear Mahaurkar,

Why have you raised this query on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the HR Forum? Are you a student or a professional? What is the context of the query? Just In Time (JIT) is a suitable production system when:

- have steady production of clearly defined standard products
- a reasonable number of units made
- a high-value product
- have flexible working practices and a disciplined and multi-skilled workforce
- short setup times on machines
- quality can be assured, e.g., zero defects either through good working practices or through a cost penalty

JIT is not just about inventory management; it is about production with lean inventory as a whole. Implementing JIT requires immense study of the operations and applications of principles of industrial engineering. For the success of JIT, Production, Production Planning, Purchase, and Sales have to work in tandem. JIT requires the establishment of collaboration with the suppliers.

In the Indian context, Maruti Motors is the No 1 company that has successfully implemented JIT. Another company could be Asian Paints, ACC Cements, etc. I conduct training programs in the field of Supply Chain Management (SCM). To know more about my training activities in this field, you may click the following links and download the respective documents:

Dinesh V Divekar - Procurement Faculty

Programme Structure for Various Training Programs in Purchase and Inventory Management

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar
+91-9900155394
dineshdivekar(at)gmail(dot)com

Thank you, Mr. Dinesh,

I am a professional in the production of project-based products. I have raised this query to get feedback from experts and learn from their experiences. JIT is a very good system for standard products, but it does not work well in project-based scenarios due to various issues that arise. I would appreciate it if you could shed more light on the practical difficulties faced when trying to implement JIT effectively in project-based settings.

Regards

Dear Mahaurkar,

I have mentioned the suitability of JIT in the previous post. JIT is not suitable for project-based work. Many times, projects depend on the geographical location, remoteness from major cities, type of material requirement, complexity of the projects, duration of the projects, support from the customers, etc. This is in contrast with factory products that have a steady production of clearly defined standard products.

If not JIT, PMP-based project planning will help you in executing projects in an organized manner. However, in your second post, you have also not given complete information. What kind of projects do you handle? What type of customers do you have? What is the variability of the customers? What is the geographical location of the projects? Is the material imported? Neither the technical details of the project nor even your first name!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar