Okuzeka
Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing vocabulary · Lean Manufacturing

Just-in-time

Meaning in industrial engineering & manufacturing, with examples

nounCommon term

In industrial engineering & manufacturing, just-in-time means: A production approach in which materials and parts arrive exactly when they are needed and in the quantity needed, so very little inventory is kept. Often shortened to JIT.

In Turkish: tam zamanında üretim, JIT

How it is used

One of the two main pillars of the Toyota Production System. Used as a noun (move to just-in-time) and as an adjective (just-in-time delivery). JIT needs reliable suppliers and stable processes, and supply disruptions show its risks.

Example sentences

  1. Seats are delivered just-in-time, in the same sequence as the cars on the line.

  2. Just-in-time is hard to run when the supplier is two weeks away by sea.

Common collocations

  • just-in-time delivery
  • just-in-time production
  • move to just-in-time
  • JIT supplier
  • kanbanA signal, usually a card or an empty bin, that tells the previous step or the supplier to make or deliver more parts. The Japanese word means 'signboard'.
  • pull systemA way of controlling production in which a step makes or delivers parts only when the next step uses them up, instead of working to a forecast.
  • lean manufacturingA way of running production that aims to deliver what the customer needs with the least waste of time, material and effort, based on the Toyota Production System.
  • inventoryAll the materials and products a company holds: raw materials, parts, work in progress and finished goods waiting to be sold.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Lean Manufacturing

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: