Current management operations planning requires new methods of management to provide the best outcomes for business owners and customers. Among the most successful ones are lean and “just-in-time” management (Bamford & Forrester 2010). These approaches originated in Japan and have proved to be a successful way of reducing waste in the production process.
Lean as a Prospective Method of Operation Arrangement
Lean is considered to have a positive impact on the organization as is helps to avoid extra expenditures connected with wasteful activities. Lean is aimed at saving space, human force, materials, and delivery terms (Bamford & Forrester 2010).
Radnor and Johnston (2013) remark that lean has not yet succeeded to connect the benefits presented to organizations with customer service. This fact is related to the wrong understanding of what a customer’s focus is. Lyons et al. (2013) notice that by now, lean has prevalently been applied to improving manufacturing efficiency and has not been equally popular in other dimensions. Therefore, the researchers remark that to receive the advantages of a lean approach to the full extent, an integrated approach is needed (Fullerton et al. 2014). It should be implemented at all steps of the operating organization and not only at some of them.
A great benefit of minimizing the waste presented by lean philosophy is its participation in the sustainability process (Piercy & Rich 2015). Apart from evident environmental gains, the lean approach provides better possibilities for personnel treatment, community commitment, transparency, and supply control. Piercy and Rich (2015) emphasize the fact that lean and sustainability are interconnected.
To integrate lean thinking into the supply chain, I would need to organize the stages of procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation by lean requirements. It means that all of these steps should be optimized and the waste should be eliminated. By doing this, I will provide the best approach to the customers and make gain a reliable reputation among them.
“Just-in-Time” (JIT) Management and Total JIT (T-JIT) Practice: Problems and Benefits
As well as lean, JIT has become a popular philosophy due to its efficiency in the way of managing waste. Unlike lean, JIT has a narrower focus and aims at controlling stock (Bamford & Forrester 2010). JIT has become successful because it directs its efforts at improvement rather than optimization. This approach requires cost decline, high quality, and timely delivery.
T-JIT is an integrated method incorporating the traditional elements of JIT (purchasing, production, and selling) with JIT-information (Green et al. 2014). Modifications of JIT and T-JIT implementation include management and operator education and enhancing connections with suppliers before carrying out their JIT methods (Yasin et al. 2003). Companies that concentrate on these modifications have proved to have fewer realization difficulties and become more successful than those who neglected them.
There are three major problems connected with JIT and T-JIT enforcement. The first one is concerned with the fact that buying in bulk, which is a popular method of price decline, contradicts the JIT principles (Bamford & Forrester 2010). Another difficulty is that extended changeovers warrant the longevity of batch production, which leads to implementing JIT and T-JIT for accumulative efforts instead of preceding ones. Finally, since JIT presupposes obtaining the necessary amount of supply at the last moment, it limits the companies’ cooperation possibilities to local suppliers (Bamford & Forrester 2010).
Notwithstanding the difficulties, JIT and T-JIT present valuable benefits for the organizations. These approaches help to eliminate waste and optimize the manufacturing process.
Reference List
Bamford, D & Forrester, P 2010, Essential guide to operations management: concepts and case notes, Wiley, London.
Fullerton, R R, Kennedy, F A, & Widener, S K 2014, ‘Lean manufacturing and firm performance: the incremental contribution of lean management accounting practices’, Journal of Operations Management, vol. 32, no. 7/8, pp. 414-428.
Green, K W, Inman, R A, Birou, L M, & Whitten, D 2014, ‘Total JIT (T-JIT) and its impact on supply chain competency and organizational performance’, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 147, pp. 125-135.
Lyons, A C, Vidamour, K, Jain, R, & Sutherland, M 2013, ‘Developing an understanding of lean thinking in process industries’, Production Planning & Control, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 475-494.
Piercy, N & Rich, N 2015, ‘The relationship between lean operations and sustainable operations’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 282-315.
Radnor, Z & Johnston, R 2013, ‘Lean in UK government: internal efficiency or customer service?’ Production Planning & Control, vol. 24, no. 10/11, pp. 903-915.
Yasin, M M, Small, M H, & Wafa, M A 2003, ‘Organizational modifications to support JIT implementation in manufacturing and service operations’, Omega, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 213-226.