Lean system or most commonly known as Just-in-Time (JIT) systems is business philosophy which main goal is to eliminate waste while increasing efficiency. This is believed have originated from the Toyota Production System and is commonly used in manufacturing companies. Just-in-time system as it literally means ideally refers to producing or delivering materials just in time for the next process to start or just in time when customers need it although in real life this could be somewhat difficult. Aside from increasing efficiency the overall desired achievement when implementing JIT is the continuous improvement of outputs and processes that is focused on the prevention of errors rather than its correction. This will eventually lead to an improved process and outputs since it requires focused and commitment to Quality Management by all the departments in an company with the guiding principle of prioritizing quality rather than the cost of materials which will eventually lead to reduction of waste. Since quality has become every employees responsibility, this leads to the reduction of required human resources as quality inspectors are to be eliminated. In terms of production management, inventory is reduced since production will be based on actual demands and preventive maintenance can be immediate done when something goes wrong. In short the pull system is used rather than the push system of production. In terms of supply management, parts required for production will follow the principle of delivering defect free, with exact quantity to the location where they are needed when they are needed.
Reference:
McCubrey, Donald (2013). Special topic: just-in-time and lean systems. Retrieved from http://cnx.org/content/m35448/latest/?collection=col11227/latest
