Just-in-Time Systems Response Discussion
Requesting 200 words response to the following post using at least three substantive peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles (different than in the below post) to provide those substantive replies. You may utilize the main article as a reference
Just-In-Time Systems and Why I Am Interested
Just-In-Time (JIT) systems have had a dramatic effect on material and operational readiness in the Navy during my multi-decade career. By the end of the 1990s, the Navy’s budget continued to decrease due the end of the Cold War and a shift in domestic budget priorities. The result of decreasing budgetary dollars was a policy shift from maintaining robust stores of spare parts to leveraging JIT manufacturing and procurement systems to maintain fleet readiness. The Navy hoped that new systems consisting predominantly of commercial of the shelf technology (COTS) would mitigate the need for robust stores for specialized systems designed specifically for U.S. Naval operational use in the past.
I am interested in conducting further research on aspects of the JIT philosophy due to academic curiosity and to understand the process and implementation side of its use in global supply chains. The adoption of COTS and the use of JIT systems to manage material and operational readiness in the fleet has had mixed results. As naval systems become increasingly complex, the original cost savings of this shift in fleet readiness policy has been lost. Additionally, to a considerable extent, military procurement demands the use of specialized systems produced by a limited number of business entities that focus on defense. Overall, I think our organization’s use of JIT systems for parts procurement has been mismanaged. They offer an immense potential for cost savings, better inventory control, and flexibility if implemented and managed properly.
Explanation of Just-In-Time Systems
The JIT philosophy and associated systems were developed after World War II by the Japanese automobile industry. The Japanese automobile industry was well behind the United States in worker productivity and efficiency. This situation spurred the development of what was initially known as the Toyota Production System and has evolved to become known by several names with varying jargon and slightly different internal processes (Satterlee, 2018). Overall, with the rapid growth of technology JIT principles have come to define most facets of the global supply chain.
The JIT philosophy focuses on only having the inventory on hand necessary for production and eventual distribution through supply chains. The overarching goals of JIT are to eliminate waste and reduce physical inventories. As I discussed previously, the advent of the internet, automation, and the rapid growth of technology has allowed business entities to better control and coordinate this complex process (Satterlee, 2018).
As I talked about when explaining my interest in learning more about JIT systems, my organization tries to manage the two major concerns with relying on JIT systems as part of our supply chain management (SCM). First, my organization is dependent on a high volume of back up products and this reliance can cause issues with receiving parts in a timely manner. Finally, my organization also deals quite a bit with emergency and reactive demand due to the nature of our work, a Byzantine and outdated reporting process, a lack of adequate funding for emergency-use parts, and institutional politics (Satterlee, 2018). Overall, JIT systems can provide a host of benefits from waste elimination to better quality and inventory control. The key is to have organizational buy in and to professionally train and resource your personnel and your internal procurement processes.
Major Article Summary
Furlan et al. (2011) conducted research on the complementary effects of lean manufacturing bundles. Their work had two objectives in its analytical approach. First, their work used statistical analysis of the high-performance round III database and a survey involving 266 manufacturing plants in nine countries to test and validate the complimentary effects on operational performance of two of the main lean manufacturing bundles. These manufacturing bundles are JIT and Total Quality Management (TQM). Finally, the authors’ work looked at the human resource management (HRM) to determine if it enhanced the complementary effects between JIT and TQM (Furlan et al., 2011). Overall, Furlan et al. (2011) contend that scholarly literature is lacking on the measures of the complementary effects of lean bundles on operational performance. Understanding these complementarity effects between lean bundles should be more important within scholarly circles because each of these bundles acts as one node within a well-organized and integrated system designed to improve the aggregate effects of performance.
Furlan et al. (2011) determine through their analysis that there is a complementarity effect between JIT and TQM. Additionally, they find that HRM plays an enabling role in enhancing complementarity between JIT and TQM. Overall, their work shows that even though there are complimentary effects between the use of JIT and TQM principles and system, it is marginal in terms of operational performance increases. This outcome is because the marginal operational performance increase was only realized by the plants that also used HRM practices (Furlan et al., 2011). HRM practices facilitate enhanced complimentary effects between JIT and TQM and lead directly to higher, albeit marginal, operational performance increases.
Businesses and managers should take three practical recommendations from the authors’ research. First, if a business has invested in lean enterprises for manufacturing without focusing on a lean approach to HRM, no positive benefits will be realized for operational performance. Second, if a business has only invested in one of the two lean manufacturing bundles, it should start investing resources in the other manufacturing lean bundle. Finally, if a business has not implemented lean processes in any aspect of its organization structure, it should take a comprehensive approach to maximize the complimentary and aggregate effects of the lean nodes when used together (Furlan et al., 2011).
Discussion
The work by Furlan et al. (2011) and Satterlee (2018) highlights several important considerations when implementing a JIT organizational approach and adopting JIT systems as part of your SCM. First, taking an organizational approach must be comprehensive. As Furlan and his co-authors determined, operational increases were realized by plants that focused on JIT, TQM, and HRM lean tenets concurrently and looked to synergize the aggregate benefits of the individual nodes. Second, successful organizational buy in by employees needs to happen if JIT, TQM, or any other lean philosophies and systemic approaches are expected to be successful organization wide. Employees’ buy in will occur by providing chances for training, professional certification, and advancement as part of the transition to these philosophies and systems. Finally, business entities need to properly resource transitions to these lean philosophies and systems across the organization. Leveraging innovative technology will be at the heart of the transition to lean organizational tenets. Additionally, other resource considerations may include changes to the organizational structure, upgrades to the business infrastructure, changes in employees, and a plethora of other possibilities too numerous to list. Overall, effective use of JIT systems and lean organizational tenets requires a comprehensive, organizationally supported, and properly resourced business plan that leverages technology to be successful.
As I discussed previously, Furlan et al. (2011) conducted research on the complementary effects of lean manufacturing bundles. The authors discover through their analysis that there is a complementarity effect between JIT and TQM. Additionally, they find that HRM plays an enabling role in enhancing complementarity between JIT and TQM. Overall, their work espouses a comprehensive organizational approach to JIT, TQM, and HRM implementation.
Gonzalez-R et al. (2012) conduct an overview of existing scholarly work on the use of tokens in just-in-time systems. Tokens are cards that authorize a production task to be performed and completed. Their work leads to the authors suggesting a new classification system of pull-inspired production control systems, allowing for up to 18 different systems to be differentiated. Overall, their objective for completing a comprehensive survey of existing scholarly work is to find similarities and differences between scholars and researchers to create and codify a classification system that is universally recognized within the academic community.
Aradhe and Kallurkar (2014) focus on how JIT has become a favored operational strategy in the service industry because of the benefits realized in the manufacturing and production sectors of the global economy. Specifically, their research makes use of a case study looking at the potential issues regarding JIT implementation in the service industry in a popular pilgrimage destination in India. The results of their case study show that the implementation of JIT principles and systems within several sectors of the service industry reduced the waiting times for pilgrims. Overall, their research shows that JIT as an operational approach is successful beyond the manufacturing and production sectors of the global economy.
Danese et al. (2012) study JIT supply practices and how they interact with JIT production practices by positively moderating the relationship between JIT production and the efficiency and performance of delivery. They test six hypotheses through a hierarchical regression analysis using data from a sample of 207 manufacturing plants. Overall, the authors determine that JIT production practices positively affect both efficiency and delivery.
Satoglu and Sahin (2013) develop a mathematical model and a heuristic approach to show how the routes are constructed and the service period is determined for a more efficient design of an internal milk-run material supply system. The current material supply by this system occurs on a just-in-time basis from a central warehouse to several stations of an assembly line. Their objective for the proposed mathematical model is the minimization of the total material handling and inventory holding costs associated with operation. Overall, they determine that their proposed mathematical model and heuristic approach will create better efficiencies and reduce waste.
The research I chose to focus on demonstrates that the existing scholarly literature on JIT philosophies and systems is broad and diverse. Research on JIT philosophies and systemic approaches can be found in computer science, mathematics, economics, management, and a host of other academic and business fields. As the work by Gonzalez-R et al. (2012) demonstrates, there is no agreed upon classification system for JIT systems across academia or in the business world that goes beyond believing in reducing waste and inventory. Overall, that is ok if the focus is waste elimination and inventory reduction and JIT philosophical and systemic approaches are comprehensive, organizationally supported, and properly resourced when implemented.
References
Aradhe, A., & Kallurkar, S. (2014). A case study of just-in-time system in service industry. Procedia Engineering, 97, 2232-2237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2014.12.467
Danese, P., Romano, P., & Bortolotti, T. (2012). JIT production, JIT supply and performance: Investigating the moderating effects. Industrial Management + Data Systems, 112(3), 441-465. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635571211210068