News I blame Taiichi Ohno!

[ralphc1]

Taiichi Ohno (大野耐一, Ōno Taiichi, February 29, 1912 – May 28, 1990) was a Japanese industrial engineer and businessman. He is considered to be the father of the Toyota Production System, which inspired Lean Manufacturing in the U.S.[1][2] He devised the seven wastes (or muda in Japanese) as part of this system. He wrote several books about the system, including Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production.

This is the man responsible for the "Just In Time" supply chain concept that is used almost worldwide today to bring goods to market. Ohno developed the concept while working for Toyota to get parts to the assembly line just as they were needed. It might be a good concept for factory production, but it has been adopted by retailers as well to stock their shelves. Unlike a factory, retail sales can't be depended on to be a constant flow. As we are witnessing, events can greatly change the amount of products required. Retailers have limited reserves. Factories have little to no ability to increase production to meet increased demand because they have also adopted the "Just In Time" concept. Factories once operated 8 hours per day and could add another shift to increase production. Now they are run on a 24 hour schedule to minimize the production equipment needed to make a product so they can't increase production without adding equipment. There isn't any reserve capacity in these systems. Even if they could increase production, the transportation system wouldn't have the capacity to support it because they don't have any reserve capacity either.

 

[ralphc1]

Seems that the hospitals use the same system so they don't stock extra things like masks that are needed to protect their workers. They trust that the supply chain will be able to supply things when they suddenly need many times what they normally use.

 

[JAEGERX]

tbh when i was in college and learned about just in time, kaizen, lean and all the other shit i thought it was genius

obviously the guy didnt plan his system to endure a global lockdown, hopefully now we can sustain just in time plus having local industry and large warehouses with stock so this doesnt hit as hard when it happens again

 

[Saku's Son]

I've seen the automotive warehousing for Toyota and Honda in the UK as a supplier quality engineer.
They talk a good game but they were definitely not JIT

 

[ToxicShocker]

He was the original six sigma blackbelt

 

[ralphc1]

Look at the problem Ford encountered when the facility that made aluminum parts for their trucks had a fire and shut down for a few months. A limited supply chain can cripple a company.

 

[Tone C]

Oh no...