"Just in Time" management

[Chris Brownbill <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au>]

There's a great article in the Business pages of yesterday's (Friday) Melbourne
Age which rips into the religion of "Just in Time" management.  About time I
say.

For those who aren't familiar with it - "Just in Time" is a process of supplying
goods for manufacturing in which absolute minimum stock levels are maintained,
and supplies are delivered in small lots just as they are required.

Just in Time, in theory, saves the purchaser having to warehouse materials - BUT
the article makes the point that this simply means that the upsteam provider has
to warehouse them anyway.  JIT also increases the vulnerability of manufacturing
processes to failure in the event of a disruption anywhere in the process chain
because there is no buffer of supplies.

Railways are not well placed to implement Just in Time because JIT requires
frequent deliveries of small consignments whereas rail is better suited to
larger shipments.  It could be that JIT has been responsible for significant
loss of rail business to road over the past decades.

If this article is an indicator of an emerging common sense in the business
world turing their backs on JIT, then it could be VERY good news for rail
freight operators in Australia and worldwide.