The essence of just-in-time: Embedding diagnostic tests in work-systems to achieve operational excellence

This paper asserts that problem identification and problem-solving processes can be integrated into work processes by embedding tests in work that evaluate performance with every exchange of products, services, and information. These tests make it unambiguous when, where, and by whom problem solving is necessary. This hastens improvement and deepens process knowledge frequently and at low-cost. These assertions are based on an ethnographic study of how some firms sustain outstanding performance through iterative problem solving, a concern of organizational and operations management theory. This field research revealed attributes of just-in-time (JIT) as it is practiced by Toyota and its affiliates - companies that have been associated with JIT and that have been recognized for outstanding performance - that have not been fully explored previously. Whereas JIT&'s role in controlling material flows through sequential processes has been much discussed, Toyota and its affiliates also use JIT to evaluate work-system performance with high frequency and resolution. When work is not proceeding as designed, problem solving begins close in time, place, process and person to each problem. These results suggest using JIT to advance process knowledge from lower stages to higher.

[1]  L. Urwick,et al.  Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett , 1942 .

[2]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota , 1986 .

[3]  児玉 文雄.  Harvard Business Review : 抄録雑誌の概要 , 1987 .

[4]  Brent M. Johnson.  The soft side of the Toyata production system is the hard side , 1998 .

[5]  S. Barley.  Images of Imaging: Notes on Doing Longitudinal Field Work , 1990 .

[6]  K. Clark,et al.  Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the Learning Organization , 1988 .

[7]  Baback Yazdani.  Book reviewToyota production system: an integrated approach to Just-In-Time (2nd ed): Yasuhiro Monden Chapman & Hall, London (1994) 423 pp, £39.95 ISBN 0-412-58220-1 , 1995 .

[8]  S. Barley.  Technology as an occasion for structuring: evidence from observations of CT scanners and the social order of radiology departments. , 1986, Administrative science quarterly.

[9]  松本 俊之,et al.  Industrial Engineering 実験 , 2004 .

[10]  David A. Garvin,et al.  The Processes of Organization and Management , 1998 .

[11]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[12]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and Environment: Managing Differentiation and Integration , 1967 .

[13]  S. Spear,et al.  Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System , 1999 .

[14]  Computer Staff,et al.  The Machine That Changed the World , 1992 .

[15]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[16]  E. C. Stewart-Seed.  The dynamic approach. , 1979, The International journal of oral myology.

[17]  E. Chapple,et al.  Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett Edited by Henry C. Metcalf and L. Urwick Harper, New York and London, 1942 , 1942 .

[18]  Joseph T. Mahoney,et al.  The Evolution of a Manufacturing System at Toyota , 1999 .

[19]  Peter O'Grady,et al.  Kanban controlled pull systems: an analytic approach , 1989 .

[20]  Dorothy Leonard-Barton,et al.  The Factory as a Learning Laboratory , 2000 .

[21]  Anita L. Tucker,et al.  When Problem Solving Prevents Organizational Learning , 2002 .

[22]  P. Adler,et al.  Ergonomics, Employee Involvement, and the Toyota Production System: A Case Study of Nummi'S 1993 Model Introduction , 1997 .

[23]  J. Gaus,et al.  Dynamic Administration; The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett. Edited by Henry C. Metcalf and L. Urwick. (New York: Harper and Brothers. 1942. Pp. 320. $3.50.) , 1942, American Political Science Review.

[24]  P. Adler.  Time-and-motion regained , 1993 .

[25]  Ramachandran Jaikumar,et al.  A dynamic approach to operations management: An alternative to static optimization , 1992 .

[26]  William J. Abernathy,et al.  Patterns of Industrial Innovation , 1978 .

[27]  John Paul MacDuffie,et al.  The Road to Root Cause: Shop-Floor Problem-Solving at Three Auto Assembly Plants , 1997 .

[28]  Samuel C. Heilman.  The Gate Behind the Wall: A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem , 1984 .

[29]  Bhaba R. Sarker.  Simulating a just-in-time production system , 1989 .

[30]  Michael A. Cusumano,et al.  The Japanese Automobile Industry: Technology and Management at Nissan and Toyota by Michael A. Cusumano (review) , 1986 .

[31]  H. Kent Bowen,et al.  The toyota production system: an example of managing complex social/technical systems. 5 rules for designing, operating, and improving activities, activity-connections, and flow-paths , 1999 .

[32]  J. Rayport,et al.  Spark innovation through empathic design. , 1997, Harvard business review.

[33]  Lea D. Taylor,et al.  : Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum , 1944 .

[34]  C. Barnard.  The Functions of the Executive , 1939 .

[35]  Eric von Hippel,et al.  How learning by doing is done: problem identification in novel process equipment☆ , 1995 .

[36]  藤本 隆宏,et al.  The evolution of a manufacturing system at Toyota , 1999 .

[37]  E. Hippel.  Sticky Information and the Locus of Problem Solving: Implications for Innovation , 1994 .

[38]  S. Winter,et al.  An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change.by Richard R. Nelson; Sidney G. Winter , 1987 .

[39]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[40]  L. C. Lee.  A Comparative Study of the Push and Pull Production Systems , 1989 .