Just-In-Time: Case Studies Of Supplier Relationships Across Industries

Abstract

<p class="MsoBlockText" style="margin: 0in 27pt 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Just-in-time (JIT) is a well-established philosophy that seeks to sustain a competitive advantage and result in greater overall returns through waste elimination and variability reduction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>One component of the philosophy is the relationships with suppliers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>These relationships are vital to the success of organizations regardless of the industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The automotive, electronic, healthcare, and steel industries engage in JIT practices in differing fashions but all seek the same goal of sustaining a competitive advantage over the competition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The automotive and electronic industries rely heavily on information sharing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>A critical component of the healthcare industry is seeking out long-term contracts with suppliers in order to assure quality and timeliness of deliveries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The steel industry has elements of the JIT philosophy but has been forced to vertically integrate many of its productions due to the rising costs of raw materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Depending on the industry a firm competes in, and the relationship it has with its suppliers determines the manner in which it practices the JIT philosophy.</span></span></span></p>