Now, more than ever before, the speed at which an order is delivered to a customer is under an increasing amount of scrutiny. With demands of consumers for delivery within a day or two combined with the inability of many companies to expand in order to support additional growth, "just in time" delivery emerges as a valid and necessary component of today's commerce landscape.
What Does Just in Time Delivery Mean?
Just in time (JIT) delivery requires companies to look at their supply chain fulfillment options in a different light. In a nutshell, just in time delivery is a strategy of inventory management that supports faster fulfillment of orders in a way that integrates specific applications. Typically, these applications center around the manufacturing and raw materials order aspects of the process.
JIT delivery is an inventory management strategy that results in faster order fulfillment and reduced waste and costs, particularly by ordering raw materials and supplies as they’re needed instead of in bulk. At Bay Cities, we help our clients with JIT strategies by allowing previous designs to be ordered as needed, provided we have the materials in stock. If you’ve worked with us before and need more boxes of a previous design, you can order from us when you need it, and we can produce and deliver your order with a quick turnaround (depending on material availability). This avoids you or anyone in your supply chain needing to store and hold onto additional packaging and boxes if they’re not immediately needed.
JIT delivery is a stark contrast to the traditional model used to fuel logistics. The "just in case" process utilizes logistics focused on keeping every item that the manufacturer might need on hand. This allowed the company to meet their needs—just in case something came up.
The result, however, was large swaths of space devoted to the storage of these “just in case” materials. This space couldn't be used to expand production or other elements of the company in order to accommodate its growth.
With JIT delivery and the help of Bay Cities, you can easily get more boxes as you need them so you avoid spending too much on boxes that might not get used and utilize space in your facilities more effectively.
Benefits of Just in Time Delivery
Implementing JIT delivery offers today's companies a number of advantages. These are focused on keeping companies lean while boosting production and include:
Inventory Reduction
Just in time delivery enables companies to limit their need to keep inventory on hand. This frees up space for other crucial operations and enables the company to expand if needed.
Higher Productivity
Employees can be more productive when a just in time delivery strategy is implemented. Instead of having them put away parts or clean up delivery trash, employees can focus on value-driven work that increases production and the company's bottom line.
Costs Savings
Companies can also realize significant savings in their logistics costs. In many cases, the costs for both labor and space are lower when compared to those at the manufacturing facility.
Characteristics of Just in Time Delivery
In order to be classified as a JIT delivery strategy, services need to implement the following characteristics:
- small batch size
- zero inventory
- producing on an as-needed basis
Because logistics that are focused on JIT delivery are grounded in accuracy, peak efficiency, and speed, there are certain techniques that are implemented to support those objectives. A few general methodologies include:
- focusing on the elimination of waste in all areas of the operation
- employing total productive maintenance as a strategy for reliability
- focusing on the transparency of operations in an effect to reduce complexity
- supporting an environment that focuses on continuous improvement
- focusing on the ability to be flexible so setup and changeover timelines are reduced
- implementing the strategic arrangement of production lines to enhance the flow of all processes
- empowering staff in problem solving and operations improvement operations
High-quality JIT delivery strategy implements techniques that are designed to meet the needs of their customers including:
- leveled scheduling that is customized to each customer's demands so product is built on the day it is shipped
- implementing tools like cards and other types of signals to boost supply chain functions and trigger the appropriate actions
- products that are made to order and/or engineered to order are put on a pull scheduling rotation that focuses on efficiency
- operations optimization in the form of the synchronizing production flow
- preventing holdups by continuously observing the supply chain function
Bay Cities Packaging & Design is there to meet your shipping box needs with our just in time delivery capabilities. Once you’ve worked with us, if you need more of the same boxes, we can print and ship out more to you quickly (provided materials are in stock), leading to less waste and more space in your own facilities. Learn more about our services in the link below:
