Study and Analysis of JIT (Just in Time) Approach using Attributes and Performance Parameters in SCM (Supply Chain Management)

Supply chain Management is to manage to procure the raw material, to convert it in form of finished/ semi-finished goods & products and to distribute the finished product to the end users. In many cases it is observed that sub-optimization exists in Supply chain Management due to some non-value added activities in the procurement of raw materials, production process and in distribution of finished products. This can be avoided by the proper planning, execution and monitoring of the activities of supply chain. Recent development in managing the supply chain has attracted JIT as effective tool to remove unproductive inventories, better inventory control, quick responses, effective communication between suppliers & end users and optimization of use of human resources. The literature highlights the JIT capability to overcome the inherent problems of supply chain like; undermining of Inventory level, waste elimination, long term relationships, free flow of information and effective human involvement. Existing Supply chain of Indian industries faces the above mentioned problems. This research is to address the JIT initiative in supply chains in order to get competitive advantages by reducing efforts in controlling huge amount of inventories so that inventory handling costs & efforts related to inventory stocks can be eliminated. The attributes of JIT supply chain have been identified from the Literature review. Recognition of untouched/ less attended issues highlights the research direction. Finally two research questions were set up. The first one is to find out applicability of JIT in Supply chain& by replacing cumbersome conventional methods of Indian industries second is to explore performance of supply chain due to JIT. Survey of Industries is carried out to in many industries & firms & an attempt is done to find the solution of first question in terms of level of JIT, benefits, difficulties, importance and challenges of Implementation. It is found that applicability of JIT in SCM of Indian industries in terms of level, importance, benefits, problem solving and challenges are high. In second answer, the performance of Supply chain due to JIT has been explored in terms of performance of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, information handling and Business. The raw material is supplied by the suppliers to the manufacturer and distributor facilitates the storage and delivery of finished product into the hands of the end users. As Just in time in supply chain highly improves total time of process, responsiveness, flexibility, quality, mutual coordination, information sharing and long term relationship. The mixed responses in survey of Indian industries also plead to explore the partial JIT application in supply chain. Indian industries are not fully ready to accept to implement all the attributes of JIT as in many industries still the conventional method of holding large inventories is used and they prefer to use them partially, so alternative of JSC. Hybrid Supply Chain (HSC) has been proposed as most suitable for Indian Industries.