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JUST-IN-TIME AND THE USE OF TRANSPORTATION BY MINNESOTA AND WISCONSIN MANUFACTURERS

In this report, just-in-time (JIT) is defined to mean that physical goods arrive just in time to be used, processed, or transported. The objectives of the study were to determine (1) the extent to which manufacturers in Minnesota and Wisconsin have adopted the JIT concept for inbound or outbound movements; (2) what kinds of firms can successfully use JIT in terms of their size, plant location, products produced, and type of manufacturing (repetitive or non-repetitive); (3) for those manufacturers that have adopted the JIT philosophy, what their reasons were for doing so and, for non-users of JIT, why they had not done so; and (4) to what extent the assumptions concerning the use of transportation in a JIT environment are supported by the experience of manufacturers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, i.e., what was the effect of their participation in JIT on their use of transportation. The methodology used in the study was a mail questionnaire sent to a random sample of 281 manufacturers with fifty or more employees in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The return of usable questionnaires was 97, or 34.5%. Of these, 29, or 29.9%, were users of JIT. Ten of the JIT users and ten of the non-users of JIT were interviewed personally on an in-depth basis. Among the findings are the following: The motivation for using JIT is often to reduce the amount of inventory held, frequently associated with a co-objective of improving the quality of the products or materials involved. The assumption that the manufacturer should have control over transportation in JIT systems was generally supported among inbound JIT companies but less so among outbound JIT companies. The assumption that the adoption of JIT leads to smaller shipment size was partially supported. As to frequency of shipments, there is evidence that whatever increase in frequency occurred after implementing JIT systems would have happened without JIT. There is no evidence that the institution of JIT has any effect of shortening the length of haul. There is no support of the assumption that the adoption of JIT results in a reduction in the number of carriers used. The modal choices of the JIT firms generally conform to what would be expected of JIT users, although non-users made similar choices. The modes of transportation used by JIT users and non-users were Truckload Common, Truckload Contract, Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) Common, LTL Contract, Air, Water, Pipeline, Railroad, Intermodal Rail-Truck, Supplier's/Customer's Truckload Private, Own Truckload Private, Supplier's/Customer's LTL Private, and Own LTL Private. Transportation cost increases usually do not occur after JIT is implemented, contrary to what is usually assumed about JIT.

  • Corporate Authors:

    University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

    Carlson School of Management, 271 19th Avenue South
    Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455
  • Authors:
    • Harper, D V
  • Publication Date: 1991-2

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: Tables;
  • Pagination: 87 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00667760
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Oct 27 1994 12:00AM