Much has been written lately about the worldwide failure of JIT -- the Just-in-Time system of Lean. The problem is that what the vast majority refer to as JIT is in fact a misguided effort to reduce inventories with no related system to make it work. JIT in its "real" form is a goal -- that of delivering value to the customer JIT -- not an inventory reduction effort. True JIT works to identify and eliminate all impediments to JIT delivery of value to customers. Toyota purchased extra chip inventory, not in violation of the Toyota Production System, but in compliancde with. They saw a chip shortage coming and took action to reduce and hopefully eliminate that potential impediment to JIT delivery to their customers.
The tossing around of poorly understood terms only adds to the confusion.
See what else I had to say about this: https://www.crainscleveland.com/opinion/personal-view-lessons-learned-just-time-manufacturing
Rebecca Morgan, President
Fulcrum ConsultingWorks, Inc
Cleveland, OH
Author of the forthcoming book: Manufacturing Mastery: The Path to Building Successful and Enduring Manufacturing Businesses.
(O) 216-486-9570
Morgan@FulcrumCWI.com