The basic elements of Just In Time (JIT) were developed by Toyota in the 1950 's, known as the Toyota Production System (TPS). JIT was well-established in many Japanese factories by the early 1970 's. JIT began to be adopted in the U.S. in the 1980 's (General Electric was an early adopter), and the JIT/lean concepts are now widely accepted and used. There have ten basic elements in Just In time which are flexible resource, efficient facility layout, pull production system, Kanban production control, small lot production, quick setup, uniform production, quality at the source, total production maintenance and supplier network.
1. Flexible Resources
The Concept of flexible resources, in the form of multifunctional workers and general purpose machines is the key elements of Just In time. Workers should be trained to operate several machines, to perform maintenance tasks, and to perform quality inspections. This can help company to solve any problem as well as possible In general, JIT requires teams of competent, empowered employees who have more responsibility for their own work. The Toyota Production System concept of “respect for people” contributes to a good relationship between workers and management. General purpose machines made a product can be produce on the same machines. For example printer-fax-copiers can do several things like printing, footstep or fax just using a machine. 2. Efficient facility layout
Cellular layout is one of the new layout proved to be fundamental to the effectiveness of the system as a whole. Cell group dissimilar machines together to process a family a part with similar processing requirements. The layout of machines within the cell resembles a small assembly line and is usually U-shaped. It allows material handler to quickly drop off materials & pick up finished work. Work normally flows through the cell in one direction and experience little waiting. In a one person cell, the