Jit - Facts/Claims/Adv vs Disadv.

III. Facts/Claims/Advantages vs. Disadvantages

Finding new management strategies has been of growing importance as today’s market develops, making it more complex and challenging for companies to stand out and gain competitive advantage. The constant pressure imposed on businesses has compelled them to search for new approaches that can ultimately improve the quality of their products and services, cut costs, reduce lead times and upgrade their current processes. Many businesses are still struggling to keep pace with the changing demands and to be susceptible to improvements and innovations in such dynamic industry.

Every company differs in the way they set up their management strategies and how they operate their business. Manufacturers practicing Just-in-time must make a careful and rigorous selection process when it comes to finding an ideal supplier to be added to their practice. Such relationships are so powerful that it plays a crucial role in the firms’ performance and results, where it can boost or harm its competitiveness if not done properly.

There are many elements in Just-in-time manufacturing’s supplier relationship that must be integrated in order for it to flow consistently and carry out positive and effective JIT results. Even though it is argued to be subjective to each specific company and its culture, there are several relevant factors that should be considered prior to selecting a possible long-term supplier, especially when implementing such methodology. Attributes such as accuracy, quality, timely delivery, communication, past performances, trust and many others play a fundamental role when it comes to making such influential decision. Briggs (1994) stated that joint development, culture, forward engineering, trust, supply chain management, quality and communication are the key requirements of a supplier partnership, apart from optimum cost. Wei et al. (1997) determined that factors such as a supplier’s supply history, product price,...