What does Just-in-Time mean?
In logistics, a delivery is referred to as just-in-time if it arrives at the customer at the exact moment it is needed. This should make the value creation process much leaner. This process is used in particular in mass and high-volume production, such as in the automotive industry. Some automotive manufacturers even locate the component suppliers' manufacturing facilities directly on the premises of the manufacturing plant in order to be able to respond directly.
Companies that operate according to the Just-In-Time strategy align the entire material flow with the production process. This reduces throughput times in production and allows storage costs to be kept low. This is because the materials do not have to be delivered until the customer has placed the order. Through this process, the supplier's manufacturing process can be seamlessly linked to the customer's production process.
Prerequisites for Just-in-Time are:
- Good infrastructure
- Optimized information flow
- Special design of contracts such as framework agreements
- Supplier flexibility
- Optimization of the organization
- Orders with large quantities
