ABSTRACT
The Japanese have been highly successful in designing, manufacturing, and marketing a wide range of products that have penetrated markets worldwide. The extent of this success has become so noticeable that there is considerable interest in Japanese manufacturing techniques, of which those classified as "Just-in-Time" (JIT) techniques are perhaps the most widely discussed. This chapter presents the results of a survey of UK industry designed to develop knowledge of JIT application. Companies who had implemented JIT were given a list of possible benefits and were asked to rank them. A comparison was made between British companies and those owned by overseas parents to see whether there was any relative difference in their level of consideration of JIT measures. Though overall level of interest in JIT is considerable, many companies would seem to be implementing various aspects of JIT on an ad hoc basis while few are applying JIT techniques as part of a planned and integrated manufacturing policy.
