Lesson 8 Classification of JIT TechniquesThis is an endeavor to understand JIT from the inside by analyzing its techniques, classifying them and examining their possible relations. More than 6 years of research devoted to the ill system has led to tentatively distinguish among its elements two main categories: JIT’s industrial engineering techniques and Japanese management-related features of JIT. The interconnections among the elements are shown in Figure 8.1.Figure 8.1 Interconnection among the groupsIt is a question of JIT techniques that can be seen as belonging or related to the field of industrial engineering. They can be divided into two groups. There are pure industrial engineering methods and there are industrial engineering elements that are closely associated with the worker’s actions. JIT’s pure engineering elementsIn this category, one has to find techniques that are universally valid like laws of physics or mathematics. They have no close relationship with the social, cultural, economic or managerial environment in which they appear or are discovered for the first time. Those elements can therefore be applied anywhere and yield the same results. The following are elements of the TIT production system identified as belonging to that group:•Quick set-up (QSU);•Automation (ASD) (poka yoke or automatic stopping device, full-work system) ;•Breaking of physical barriers (BPB) between processes, sections or departments : Shop floor reduction (SFR) ;•Flow-of-products-oriented layout of processes and machines (FPL) ;•U-formed processing line (UPL) ;•Mass production of mixed models (MMP) -on the same line;•Total preventive maintenance (TPM) ;•Kanban (KBN).Those engineering elements constitute the “technical side”of JIT or “technical JIT”. Applying them anywhere would unavoidably contribute to the reduction of cost, production lead time, defective parts (work), overproduction of work-in-process inventories and workforce.Worker’s operations/activities as JIT elementsThe worker’s operations can and do constitute some JIT elements. In other words, you have JIT techniques that are part of the worker’s activities and that interact with the human being. Their application and realization or success depend also on the human factor. If they are accepted by the work force, then they can work, otherwise they cannot. In that group may be included the following JIT techniques or methods:•Multi-machine manning working system (MMM) ;•Standard operations (SO) ;•Quality control circles (QCC) ;•Suggestions system (SS) ;•Continuous improvement (CI) .Japanese management-related elements of JITJapanese management-related elements of JIT are JIT methods that are either imported directly from or highly conditioned by Japanese management. Included in that category are the followingtechniques:•Breaking of administrative barriers (BAB) between processes from the point of view of the paper work and work function definition;•Autonomation (ADW) (decision by worker to stop the line) ;•Job rotation (JR) ;•On-the-job training (OJT).BAB means eliminating the paper work that has to be completed before the move of products from one station or process to another or from one section to another takes place. ADW refers to an “autonomous”worker capable of stopping, based on his own judgment, the production line in case of trouble occurrence.It is worth pointing out that autonomation and the breaking of barriers each have two assets: a technical and a managerial aspect. Therefore, they have been mentioned as JIT elements pertaining to industrial engineering as well as to Japanese management.Is the classification justifiable?One may wonder why the human-related elements have not been dealt with as a sub-group in the group of management features of JIT. The multi-machine handling seems to be too technical to be classified in the category of management-related features of JIT. It has been thought of as a set of technical actions, motions and operations requiring technical skills that do not have much in common with the pure management features. There is a strong influence from the Japanese management system on the multi-machine working system. This occurs because of similarities of situations one finds in both the Japanese management and JIT systems. But MMM remains a technique of industrial engineering.The same question may be also raised about QCC, SS and CI. Are they not Japanese management-related elements of JIT? QCC, SS and CI are now so wide-spread in almost all kinds of Japanese companies, regardless of their respective industry, that they may be thought of as management features that JIT has adopted. That would be an error of perception. One should remember that QCC, for example, did not proceed or develop from the well-known small groups that are recognized as being specific to Japanese management. They have their origins in the quality control ideas introduced in Japan by Dr. Deming, and in the famous zero defects of NASA. The notions of zero defects and quality control evoke the shop floor environment and at the same time suggest the idea of CI. Suggestions for CI are closely related to QCC, and can even be seen as an emanation of QCC. The main difference between the two elements is that SS may involve either an individual or a group while QCC is always a matter of a group or a team.This article attempts to put into the category of management-related techniques of JIT only the “raw”features of Japanese management. Raw referring to the management characteristics that are found unchanged in JIT (e. g. JR). Those elements are found not only in the factory management but in any kind of Japanese company regardless of the type of industry.There are reasons the other side of autonomation among management features of JIT are included. At first, it is sure that autonomation, as a whole, may sound too technical. This is true when itrefers only to machines and processes. But when applied to the person of the worker, it loses its technical resonance. An autonomous worker refers only to an officially recognized responsible and trusted worker. Such a worker is not the only one confined in the production shop floor and who deals primarily with machines. The Japanese office worker is also very autonomous because he is given the powers to perform many duties that in other countries are in the sphere of the management authorities. Take, for example, the simple case of student’s academic record transcripts. Both in Zaire and in Japan, they bear the stamp and I or signature of the dean. The main difference is that in Zaire the dean signs it himself while in Japan the dean’s name is stamped by a clerk.SummaryJIT’s pure industrial elements seem to make up the core of that production system. However workers’operations and management features that have become JIT elements also play an important role. JIT is a complex reality whose effectiveness depends upon a wide range of parameters.Should one want to have the full JIT successfully carried out, he has a much harder task, since there are more steps to go through methodically and maybe simultaneously or sequentially. A partial implementation of JIT, say the “technical”JIT, is less demanding and it has more chance of being fruitful because there are fewer steps to undertake. It would, however, have only limited results.In either case, it should be emphasized that skipping a conditioning step may have destructive effects. Switching to the mass production of mixed models would never work and would be costly if there is no quick setup and no defect-free production.From the practical point of view, the figures can fulfill the role of either instruments for evaluating JIT or instructions for JIT implementation. Why did you succeed or fall, partially or completely, in implementing JIT at your company? The Figures can provide some answers to this question. By showing causal links between JIT elements, the Figures suggest some necessary steps to follow while switching to the JIT production and can prevent or minimize the risk of inadvertently skipping important steps.课8 JIT技术分类这是一个从内部努力理解JIT通过分析其技术,分类并分析其可能的关系。