Just-in-time manufacturing: literature review and directions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on just-in-time (JIT) and to present a general survey of JIT implementation practices adopted by the manufacturing organisations. The published literature has been deeply analysed and arranged systematically in this paper. This paper examines the evolution of JIT and its implementation in the organisations. Various strategies, elements and important issues of JIT are discussed in detail. This paper also highlights the contribution of JIT towards improving competencies of the organisations. After going through a large number of papers written on the subject, the JIT implementation practices employed by manufacturing organisations all over the world have been extensively reviewed and analysed in this paper. The approaches suggested by various researchers and practitioners have been discussed and the reasons behind failure of JIT programmes in the organisations have been critically evaluated. This paper also discusses the success factors and facilitators of JIT implementation in an organisation. This paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications in the field of JIT implementation and various articles have been classified in accordance with the attributes of JIT.