The 7 general Just In Time (JIT) techniques This handout illustrates the 7 general JIT techniques and the

advantages of each of the techniques. Besides that it will discuss some industrial examples that implement some of these techniques such as Toyota-the Japanese Car manufacturer and DENTSPLY/Caulk-the American
company that manufactures dental materials for impressions and restorations.

1. KANBAN The heart of just-in-time production. A Japanese word meaning card, these cards are the means of communicating within, to, and from a work centre. A kanban is a card used for communicating between work centres. Modifying the number of kanbans in circulation can change the volume of products produced. In kanban systems, colour-coded priority boards can be used to indicate which units should be the next in production. For large objects, kanban zones can be marked out on the floor of a work centre. Kanban effectively replaces all written work orders, moves tickets, and routing sheets. No parts can be moved, produced, or used without an appropriate Kanban. Parts and components are transferred from one work area to another in rigid plastic containers. These containers are just large enough to hold a small and fixed quantity of units of the same component reference. Different parts are not put into the same container. E.g. Hewlett-Packard, Valo, and Renault VI of France all use a combination of types of Kanban.

Figure A Shows a Pull System 2. SMED Single Minute Exchange of Die SMED is a study to reduce setup times, which ultimately will reduce unit production costs. To implement SMED, distinctions must be made between external setups when the machine is running and internal setups when the machine is stopped. If the SMED principle is applied this has the effect of nullifying the impact of the economic order quantity in production situations. The principle evolved from the work of Shigeo Shingo, of Toyota Motor Co. in Japan in the 1980s. An ultimate objective was to change a machine tool in less than ten minutes and thus the expression, single minute exchange of die. The idea comes from Formula 1 motor racing where the rapid pit change of wheels, oil, filters, etc., can enormously enhance the reduction in time and subsequently, the chance of a driver winning a race. An external setup -- To maximise throughput, the setup procedures should be performed where possible while a machine is running, the activity is being performed in parallel with actual production time. An internal setup -- Only those setup procedures which cannot be performed unless the machine is stopped, should be carried out at this time.

3. The five S rules Adopting the five S rules, seiro (remove), seiton (organize), seiso (keep clean), seiketsu (standardize), and shitsuke (respect rules), aids operation efficiency. 1. Seiro (remove) Eliminate unneeded tools from the work area The idea being is that if you do not need it, do not have it cluttering the operating area because it might get in the way and slow down your activity. 2. Seiton (organize) Organize materials, tools, and documents An effective classification of all work items, documents, and files will help to reduce the time to search for these when they are needed. 3. Seiso (keep clean) Keep working area clean Appropriate from a health and safety point of view. 4. Seiketsu (standardize) Standardized where possible, operations and activities so that whoever is at the work centre, the job in hand is performed in the same manner, and with the same materials. Standards should be cleaned or overhauled, or where material should be filled, etc. When standards have been established, they should be made visible and easily accessible to all those concerned in the organization. 5. Shitsuke (respect the rules) Organizations, firms, and society function through teamwork and cooperation, which involves respecting rules. Specific rules might apply to procedures for machine cleaning or adjustments, or materials to use. There might be general rules related safety, arriving or leaving at the correct time, smoking only in the designated areas, etc. Respecting rules avoids stressful situations among teams and enhances efficiency.

Figure B Showing an example of SMED

4. Kaizen Always looking for ways to improve a process or product, but not necessarily making radical changes. The idea is that if the basic idea is sound, then building on this will improve quality. A continuous improvement process (CIP) means continuously trying to establish higher levels of quality by, say, isolating sources of problems. The ultimate goal is zero defects, the objective espoused by Crosby. In kaizen, the concept is: Dont always strive for new breakthrough products but try to improve on

existing designs. This logic was very much evident in the production of the Volkswagen Beetle which was introduced in Germany in 1937. The basic design and style remained essentially unchanged for close to half a century but quality-related improvements were continually added.

Figure C highlighting building on initial ideas with continuous learning

Figure D Kaizen method broken down in to four simple steps

5. Poka yoke A failsafe approach, incorporating devices to make products, processes, or services mistake proof to avoid errors, and at the same time to maintain quality. Poka yoke, from poka meaning inadvertent errors and yokeru meaning to prevent, is an approach to increase reliability.

 It is an idea originally conceived by Shigeo Shingo of Japan to make a product, process, service, or environment, mistake-proof in order to avoid errors, and at the same time to maintain quality. It is based on the premise that everyone is human and fallible and that on occasion they will do things wrong.

6. Cellular manufacturing Production using a cellular layout Cellular layout is the arrangement of a work centre such that many different operations can be performed on one product (as shown by the factory layout diagram below). The inconvenience, and certain inefficiency, arising from the functional layout can be considerably minimized if the work centre is organized according to the product, rather than functional activity. In this scheme, the reference group flows directly from one process operations to another as equipment is dedicated to a particular product line or cell. If the system is correctly balanced, there will be essentially no waiting time. In this arrangement, operators have to be multi-skilled so that they can work on any process operations and concentrate on the product flow. With cellular layout, there is less movement of parts, waiting time is reduced, the volume of in-process inventory is reduced, and if properly designed, the productivity of the operation is increased. Cellular layout provides greater flexibility in manufacturing. However, compared to a functional layout, it involves a bigger capital investment in machinery, equipment, and often surface area. It will only work if operators are multi-skilled, although, in any event, multi-skilled employees are often more motivated and have more utility to an organization since there is the flexibility to rotate operators according to production needs. Before an organization restructures its work centre into a cellular layout a financial analysis needs to be made to be sure the additional investment is justified and that there is a payback over a relatively short time. It needs to be clear that there will be continued future work for the particular production operation concerned.

Figure F shows a factory layout in cellular production

7. ANDON board In 'ancient' Japan, Andon was a paper lantern (a handy vertically collapsible paper lampshade with an open top and a candle placed at the central section of the closed bottom). To the ancient Japanese, Andon functioned as a flashlight, a signalling device in distance, or even a commercial sign. Andon at many manufacturing facilities is an electronic device: audio and/or colour-coded visual display. Suppose an Andon unit has three colour zones (red, green, and orange) and when the orange zone flashes with a distinctive sound, it calls for an attention of and is signalling operator to replenish certain material.

Benefits General Reduce lead times and cycle times Reduction of inventory and storage cost Eliminate of waste and non value-added operations Improve quality Greater production

Benefits of Pull/ Kanban Successful implementation of a Pull / Kanban System will minimize work in process optimize floor space usage simplify production signals and Improve on-time delivery to your customers. minimize work in process simplify production signals.

Benefits of a set-up reduction or SMED program include: Improvement of plant capacity Increase in manufacturing flexibility Improvement in quality as lot sizes and lead-times shrink Improvement in cash flow through reduction of inventory and rapid conversion of raw materials into saleable product Increase in competitiveness

Benefits of the 5S System Achieve work standardization Decreased changeover time Improved safety Reduced machine down time Boost employee morale as well as work environment Kaizen Benefits Immediate results Involvement of the workforce Visual, action orientation Can use ongoing, once learned concepts Fosters communications Creative vs. capital investments People think from "business" perspective Implementation smooth due to TEAM concept Benefits of Poke-Yoke manufacturing
Prevent errors from occurring Immediately detect abnormalities in real time as they occur Immediately stop the process from producing more defects Correct the root cause of the process problem before resuming production

Benefits of Cellular / Flow Manufacturing An efficient flow-through manufacturing system will minimize work in process, optimize floor space, improve customer response time, greater production capacity

ANDON benefits Instant notification of problem or availability at any given workstation. All workers on production line are made aware of problem/availability Speeds up process

Example Situation
DENTSPLY/Caulk manufactures dental materials for impressions and restorations. After applying lean manufacturing techniques to eliminate non-value-adding activities in several areas, management was convinced that a more holistic approach to implementing these techniques would help improve customer service and reduce inventory costs.

Solution
Facilitated a Kaizen event to address flow, which helped improve flow-through, reduce batch size and identify equipment efficiency issues. Facilitated a separate Kaizen event to establish a Pull/Kanban system with FIFO(First In First Out) lanes and visual controls to minimize inventory and simplify scheduling. Applied the 5S methodology to establish a work environment that is clearly organized,

free of

clutter and arranged so workers can quickly and easily find what they need. Results Reduced work-in-process inventory Increased inventory turnover by 1 to 1 1/2 turns Reduced overall cycle time of 40%. Improved quality by reducing non-conformances by 50%. Significantly improved employee morale by involving them in the process

Selected further reading: (Derek L. Waller, Operations Management: a supply chain approach, 2 edition, London: International Thomson Business, 1999.) (Jay Heizer & Barry Render, Principles of Operations Management, 4 edition, 2001) http://www.simplexsystems.com http://www.semiconfareast.com/jit.htm http://www.toyota-indus.com/kaizen.htm (illustrating how Toyota used Kaizen method by improving on existing design-Press Release) http://www.powermaxconsulting.com/Implementation.htm (5 Level of 5s achievement)
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