Analysis of JIT, Lean Thinking, and MRP in Modern Manufacturing

Analysis of JIT, Lean Thinking, and MRP in Modern Manufacturing

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, companies deploy strategic approaches like Just-in-Time

(JIT), Lean Thinking, and Material Requirements Planning (MRP) to enhance efficiency and achieve their

objectives. JIT and Lean Thinking, in particular, are pivotal methodologies aimed at eliminating wasteful

elements within business processes and prioritizing productivity. JIT, a contemporary supply chain

management technique, minimizes costs by reducing stock holdings, while Lean Thinking focuses on

eliminating waste caused by overburden and workload unevenness. Both methodologies share a common

goal of maximizing efficiency and ensuring timely product delivery.

This assessment delves into the key elements of JIT and Lean Thinking, emphasizing their roles in

producing and delivering products just in time, assembling partly finished products, acquiring parts, and

managing raw materials efficiently. While these techniques are crucial for business success, the

assessment introduces MRP, a software-based system for managing manufacturing processes through

production planning, scheduling, and inventory control. Unlike Lean Thinking and JIT, MRP emphasizes

formal planning tools for a clearer view of production requirements.

Despite their shared objective of enhancing manufacturing efficiency, the difference in philosophy and

approach between MRP, Lean Thinking, and JIT poses challenges for simultaneous implementation.

MRP views complex manufacturing challenges as necessitating formal planning tools, while Lean

Thinking and JIT believe in a streamlined, transaction-light approach for accurate planning, avoiding

interference with efficiency.

To effectively navigate these differences and capitalize on the unique benefits of each tool, businesses are

encouraged to create value stream maps. These maps outline the flow of information and materials

through the business, helping identify production bottlenecks and facilitating informed decision-making.

In the recent dynamic business environment, companies resort to strategies such as lean thinking and JIT

to maximize their efficiency and meet their business objectives. The Just-in-Time and Lean Thinking

enable the businesses to eliminate the waste elements or processes from the business and emphasise on

productivity. JIT or Just-in-Time is a modern supply chain management technique used to cut the cost by

minimizing the amount of products or good of the organisation holding the stock. On the other hand, Lean

thinking is another management technique used to eliminate the waste within a manufacturing system.

This technique takes into account the waste developed through overburden and unevenness in workload

(Cerri, 2014).

There are different elements of the lean thinking and JIT. The key elements of JIT include producing and

delivering products ‘just in time’ to sell in the market, assembling partly finished products ‘just in time’

to get final products, get parts ‘just in time’ to convert into partly finished goods and getting raw material

‘just in time’ to be made into parts. On the other hand, lean thinking includes designing a simple

manufacturing system, determining improvements and improves the lean manufacturing system design

consistently. Both these techniques aim at maximizing the efficiency of the business and ensuring that the

products are delivered on time (Gupta & Kohli, 2006).

Although lean thinking and JIT are critical for the business success but MRP or Material requirements

planning is another management technique used to manage manufacturing processes. It is a production

planning, scheduling and controlling inventory to manage the manufacturing processes. The MRP

systems are software based. This is different from lean thinking and JIT since the former is used to

manage manufacturing processes while the later are the techniques used in the manufacturing processes

(Gupta & Kohli, 2006).

The MRP software is based on the philosophy that the complex manufacturing challenges require formal

planning tools to get a clearer view of the production requirements. On the other hand, the lean thinking

and Just-in-Time are based on the idea that the formal planning tools hamper the efficiency by getting

into the way of accurate planning (Nel & Badenhorst-Weiss, 2011). This is due to the reason that the

techniques are too slow and transaction-intensive to catalyse the actual consumption.

Therefore, the difference between the two management techniques in the manufacturing processes makes

it difficult for the businesses to implement both simultaneously. It is crucial to cope with these differences

and ensure the businesses reap the benefits of these tools. One way to cope with the difference is to create

a value stream map to outline the flow of information and materials (Singh et al 2013). The process of

modeling how the information and materials flow through the business will enable the manufacturers to

determine production bottlenecks.