Week Three discussion 1 replies. Please reply to the TWO students discussion post. 75 word min.

Week Three Discussion 1 replies

Please reply to the TWO students' posts. 75 word min.

Eric Lin

JIT, inventory levels, and lead times are closely connected. Just-in-Time (JIT) focuses on receiving materials only when they are needed for production, which means companies try to keep inventory levels low. When JIT increases, inventory usually goes down because the company is not holding large amounts of extra stock. However, this only works well when lead times are short, reliable, and predictable.

If lead times go up or become more uncertain, inventory usually needs to go up as well. Longer lead times create more risk because materials may not arrive when production needs them. To protect against stockouts, shutdowns, and missed customer orders, companies often add safety stock. In that case, strict JIT goes down because the company is no longer operating with minimal inventory.

The relationship can also work the other way. If inventory goes up, the company has more buffer against late shipments, but it also increases holding costs, storage needs, and the risk of obsolete inventory. If lead times go down and suppliers are reliable, the company can reduce inventory and operate closer to a true JIT model.

Post-COVID, I do not think JIT is dead, but I do think the old version of extreme JIT is less realistic for many companies. The pandemic showed that supply chains built only for low cost and efficiency can struggle when there are major disruptions. Researchers have noted that COVID-19 caused many companies to question JIT and consider “just-in-case” inventory, but the better answer is not simply abandoning JIT. Instead, companies need to adapt JIT for turbulent conditions by improving supplier visibility, risk management, flexibility, and resilience.

In my opinion, JIT should still be used for stable, predictable, and low-risk items. However, companies should hold strategic safety stock for critical, long-lead-time, or single-source materials. They should also diversify suppliers, map their supply chains, and improve collaboration. Research on post-COVID resilience supports stronger supplier risk evaluation, supply chain collaboration, and supply chain mapping as important resilience measures.

Overall, JIT is not dead. “Blind JIT” is dead. Modern JIT needs to balance efficiency with resilience.

References

Choi, T. Y., Netland, T. H., Sanders, N., Sodhi, M. S., & Wagner, S. M. (2023).  Just-in-time for supply chains in turbulent times.  Production and Operations Management.

Scala, B., & Lindsay, C. F. (2022).  Increasing global supply chains’ resilience after the COVID-19 pandemic: Empirical results from a Delphi study.  Journal of Business Research.

 

Edwin Villalobos

1) Discuss the interdependent relationship between JIT, Inventory levels & Lead times (i.e. when one goes up, what happens to the other two -- up or down?).

Good Morning Class, 

Just-in-time (JIT) is a production strategy that aims at reducing waste by acquiring materials only when they are needed for production. I can recall when I was working at Jet Manufacturing Co. an aerospace company we followed this method for most production. So materials were constantly flowing in daily. The volume of materials incoming was never predictable because orders were constantly fluctuating. This placed a lot of pressure on the company and workers because the window time for production was slim. The success of JIT depends on maintaining low inventory levels and short, reliable lead times (Schonberger, 1982). 

The relationship between JIT, Inventory and Lead times:

·  When inventory levels decrease, lead times must also decrease, this allows material to arrive exactly when needed. 

· When lead times increase, inventory levels typically increase. Companies must hold more stock to protect against delays and uncertainty in supply. 

· When a company successfully implements JIT, inventory levels will decrease and companies work to reduce lead times through strong supplier relationships, improved forecasting, and streamlined logistics. 

2.) Post-COVID, do you think JIT is dead??

In my opinion JIT isn't dead, I think it has just changed in many ways. When the Covid-19 pandemic reached its peak, global supply chains disruptions exposed vulnerability of companies that relied on extremely lean inventories and single-source suppliers. In response many companies responded by increasing safety stock, diversifying suppliers, and build a greater supply chain resilience which is a strategy referred to Just-in-Case (JIC) inventory management. 

Recent research argues that the pandemic didn't prove JIT was fundamentally flawed. Instead, it proved that JIT works best when combined with strong risk management, flexible supplier network, nad strategic inventory buffer for critical components. Now, many companies have implemented a hybrid approach that balances efficiency with resilience. This allows firms to maintain the cost advantages of JIT while improving their ability to respond to unexpected disruptions (Choi et al., 2023).

References

Choi, T. Y., Netland, T. H., Sanders, N., Sodhi, M. S., & Wagner, S. M. (2023).  Just-in-time for supply chains in turbulent times.  Production and Operations Management, 32(8), 2331–2340.  https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13979

Schonberger, R. J. (1982).  Some observations on the advantages and implementation issues of just-in-time production systems.  Journal of Operations Management, 3(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-6963(82)90017-1