Industry News: Just-In-Time Manufacturing Making a Comeback over Pandemic Driven “Just-In-Case”

The decades old tried-and-true practice of Just-In-Time manufacturing was quickly replaced with the survival practice of “Just-In-Case” manufacturing due to shifts caused by various pandemic effects.

One of those effects was the consumer shift from using their expendable income on services to physical products. People were staying home and making online purchases. Lots of them. Couple that with the lack of workforce, Just-In-Time quickly revealed that it did not fit this new business model. Gone were the days of “Lean Manufacturing” in order to keep inventory costs low, manufacturing and retail space high, and stakeholder interests strong. It was bringing industries to a halt.

But are those days of JIT gone forever? According to the Bloomberg columnist Brooke Sutherland, Just-In-Time is beginning to reassert itself. With inventory destocking taking place, along with an 84% jump in 2023 second-quarter free cash flow, manufacturers are beginning to phase back to the Lean Manufacturing model that served them well prior to the pandemic.

There is more thought, however, as to a “buffer” inventory and what it should consist of, if at all, taking into account consumer behavior and perception of value. To read this article in its entirety click here

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