Does JIT work in today's production?

After reading some rather good comments on what JIT and MRP is and how we have defined these two systems in class.I would like to take this discussion in a new direction.



I agree with sir's comments on what these two systems are and how we have defined them and I’m sure we will all agree that we have learned something new on this topic than any other topic within the “Internet” - but amongst the rather fantastical words used to define these two systems I feel we have “dressed” what JIT and MRP is and particularly whether it actually works within today’s production and business world??

 My feelings are that JIT in particular doesn’t work in majority of companies today.

There appear to be to many risks involved within this system and I believe that there isn’t the room for errors to be made. JIT can save a company time, money and waste but it doesn’t tackle the fundamentals of the physical logistical side, i.e, delivery mistakes or lateness of a product or component. If a product or service isn’t delivered and has detrimental effects to a customer who buys your product/service on the high street they will simply go elsewhere (to a competitor) and buy the same product from them. Customers aren’t patient today as there is so much choice to buy the same product elsewhere.
Too many elements have to be 100% correct, i.e flexible workforce, good suppliers, quality, speed and dependability for the JIT system too work and if one element goes wrong then your company will suffer with great effects – loss in profit due to lower sales, bad reputation as you can’t deliver products etc.
Upon this, I would say that JIT is risky in a competitive market, which incidentally is the case with nearly all products on the market today. JIT was a revolutionary concept maybe 20 years ago and up until this date but I feel that it could cause more harm than good due to the amount of competition today, The only exception to this is in a niche market where customers don’t have the same choice to buy elsewhere as they do in a competitive market and JIT will work.


Please feel free to comment on my views.