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JIT purchasing: Literature review and

implications for Indian industry
Dixit Garg
Published online: 15 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: Dixit Garg (1999) JIT purchasing: Literature review and implications for Indian
industry, Production Planning & Control: The Management of Operations, 10:3, 276-285, DOI:
10.1080/095372899233235
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P R OD UCT I ON P LA N NI N G & CON T R OL , 1999, V OL . 10, NO . 3, 276 285

J I T purchasing: literature review and implications

for I ndian industry

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DI X I T GA R G and S. G. DESH M U K H

K eyw ords

J I T, purchasing, attributes, im plementation

A bstract. P urchasing has becom e a v ital part of ju st-in-tim e

( J I T) system s because of its potential for quality improv em ent
and cost saving. This paper review s and classi es the literature
on J I T purchasing. The im portance of attributes in J I T purchasing has been identi ed. A survey of the attributes was ca rried out in I ndia n context. The relative im portance of such
attributes is highlighted. Based upon this w ork , some research
directions are also id enti ed w hich need close scrutiny .

1. Introduction
The basic idea of J I T w as originally developed and
formalized into a sophisticated managem ent sy stem by
the Toyota M otor Company in J apan. Since then,
many view s on the contents of J I T have been put forw ard
( Hall 1983, A nsari 1986b, Sohal et al. 1989, M iltenberg
1990, Prem V rat et al. 1993, Garg et al. 1995) as J I T is

being globally accepted. J I T can be summ arized as an

approach to eliminate waste and achieve manufacturing
excellence.
A ccording to Golhar and Stamm ( 1991) , the four basic
tenents of the J I T philosophy are: ( i) elim inat ion of
w aste; ( ii) employee involvement in decision making;
( iii) supplier participitation ; and ( iv ) total quality control. These tenent s must be applied across the three basic
functions of manufacturing; purchasing, production and
marketing. V uppalpati et al. ( 1995) have analysed the
relationship betw een tw o fundamental management
systemsJ I T and TQ M ( Total Quality M anagement) ,
and em phasized their joint im plementation. The literature on J I T purchasing and supply/sourcing attributes
has been discussed. Stamm and Golhar ( 1993) have
review ed various papers on J I T purchasing and categorized them as conceptual, case and empirical studies.
Thirty-four attribut es are iden ti ed, and frequency of

A uthors: D. Garg, Department of M echanical E ngineering, R egional Engineering College,

K uruk shetra-136119, I ndia, and S. G. Deshm ukh, M echanical E ngineering Department, I I T,
N ew Delhi, I ndia.
Dixit Garg is presently serving as L ecturer at the M echanical Engineering Department,
R egional Engineering College, K uruk shetra, I ndia . He completed his P h.D. in 1997 in the area
of J I T purchasing from K uruk shetra U niv ersity , K urukshetra, I ndia . H is areas of interest are J I T,
TQM , production planning, etc. He has published around 25 papers in reputed international/
national journals, conferences and seminars.

S. G. Deshmukh is presently w ork ing as A ssociate Professor at the M echanical E ngineering

Departm ent, I I T, New Delhi. He has earlier serv ed as Associate Professor in the School of
M anagem ent, I I T, M umbai. H is areas of interest are J I T, sim ulation and m odelling, multiattribute decision m aking, etc. H e has published a large num ber of papers in international and
national journals of repute, e.g. IJ PR, IJ OPM , IJ PE, J ORS, PPC, Productivity, Industrial Engineering ,
etc.

Production Planning & Control I SSN 09537287 print/I SSN 13665871 online

http://w w w .ta ndf.co.uk /J NL S/ppc.ht m

http://w w w .t a ylorand francis.com /J N L S/ppc.ht m

1999 T a ylor & F rancis L td

J IT purchasing

277

J I T P urchasin g

Conceptual articles

Survey/R ev iew articles

Case studies

E m pirical/M odelling w ork

R om ero ( 1991)
Turnbull ( 1992)
L eavy ( 1994)

L yons et al. ( 1990)

Cusumano & Takeishi ( 1991)
F reeland ( 1991)
H elper ( 1991)
W eber et al. ( 1991)
Billesbach & H ayen ( 1994)
Banerjee & Sriram ( 1995)
F aw cett & Scully ( 1995)
M ohan & Singh ( 1995)
Tersine & H um m ingbird ( 1995)
W aters-Fuller ( 1995)
Garg et al. ( 1996b)
Garg et al. ( 1997b)

A lanso & F ransier ( 1991)

F andel & Reese ( 1991)
Davis ( 1993)
K olay ( 1993)
M artel ( 1993)
Grande & Satir ( 1994)
H yd e et al. ( 1994)
Ellram & E dis ( 1996)
W ood et al. ( 1996)
Chen & Chen ( 1997)
Garg et al. ( 1997a)
L andry & Duguay ( 1997)

Golhar et al. ( 1993)

R am asesh ( 1993)
Baker et al. ( 1994)
Banerjee & K im ( 1995)
Gupta & K ini ( 1995)
M uk hopadhyay ( 1995)
N assim beri ( 1995)
Garg et al. ( 1996a)
Garg et al. ( 1996c)
Goyal & Deshm uk h ( 1997)

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j
j

Figure 1. J I T purchasing: classi ca tion of survey ed literature.

citation of an attribute in the literature is assumed to be a

measure of its im portance. This paper attempts to classify
and review the papers in the area of J I T purchasing. The
literature published after the review by Stam m and
Golhar ( 1993) is reviewed in this paper. The objectiv es
of this paper are to review the literature on J I T purchasing, and based on this identify relevant attributes in
I ndian context.

2. Literature survey
I n the literat ure, J I T purchasing has continu ously
draw n attention from researchers and practitioners.
This is re ected in a num ber of survey articles and
reviews, and em pirical/modelling w ork. A ttention
towards case studies has also increased, w hile a few conceptual articles have also appeared. A possible classi cation scheme is suggested and shown in gure 1.

2.1. Conceptual articles

R omero ( 1991) pointed out that many rms applying
J I T in supply management consider it to be simply a
change in policies that they must negotiate w ith suppliers
in order to cut cost. He emphasized the need for real
interest in im plementing J I T in their factories and a
long-term manufacturing strategy that w ould coordinate
J I T w ith other areas of material ow management, inside
and outside of the company.
Turnbull et al. ( 1992) documented the adoption of the
J apanese m odel of manufacturing in the U K autom obile
industry. I t is argued that the J apanese model involves
very high intra- and interorganizational depend ences.
A lthough this does not cause problems in J apan due to

the stru cture of the J apanese motor industry, the structure of the U K vehicle industry presents severe obstacles
to the successful use of J apanese systems. Such exercises
may ev en sw eep aw ay potential strengths of the existing
supplier.
L eavy ( 1994) discussed tw o types of strategic buyer
supplier relationsthe traditional and J I T perspectiv es.
The need for strategic management is em phasized, as J I T
perspectiv es are mainly based upon mutual trust, economic health and competitiv eness of the buyers company.

2.2. Survey and reviews

L yons et al. ( 1990) examined the e ect of dev eloping
J apanese-style buyersupplier relations by conducting
interview s w ith some U S manufacturers and their suppliers. I t has been found that these relations accrue bene ts
and risks for both buyers as w ell as suppliers.
Cusumano and Takeishi ( 1991) conducted a survey of
J apanese and U SA ( including J apanese-managed plants
in the U SA ) automakers to obtain an overview of supplier relations and management. The results have show n
that J apanese suppliers perform better in dimensions, e.g.
quality, price, etc. J ap anese-managed autoplants established in the U SA have, in general, adopted J apanese
practices and recieve an extremely high level of quality
from their J apanese as w ell as U S suppliers. The survey
has also indicated that U S rms have adopted at least
som e practices traditionally associated w ith J apanese
rms, re ecting some convergence tow ards J apanese
practices.
F reeland ( 1991) administered a questionnaire to 230
people in di erent indust ries to study J I T purchasing
practices in the U SA. Sixty usable responses w ere

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278

D . Garg and S. G. D eshmukh

received. I t is found that 45% had formal J I T purchasing programm es and 22% w ere planning to im plement.
The longer J I T purchasing had been in place, the greater
the percieved ben e ts. Quality is found to be the most
im portant criteria in selecting those parts to be purch ased
on a J I T basis, while distance betw een buyer and supplier is not found to be im portant. Exchanging of information betw een buyer and vendor is found to be more
im portant with J I T purchased parts.
Helper ( 1991) emphasized the spirit of the voice relationship between U S automakers and their suppliers in
order to achieve a global com petitiv e edge. On the basis
of a survey in 1989, she found that the au tomakers are
signi cantly more likely to provide detailed inform ation
to their suppliers compared to 1984, to have long-term
contracts. On the other hand, they do not feel that their
customers are more trustw orthy than they w ere in 1984.
The survey ed autom akers tend to obtain im provements
in quality and delivery by forcin g suppliers to adopt
methods, e.g. J I T deliv ery, w ithout J I T production.
W eber et al. ( 1991) review ed 74 articles on vendor
selection to nd the im portance of 23 vendor selection
criteria attributes identi ed by Dickson ( 1966) . Am ong
the attributes; quality, delivery, net price, availability of
production facilities and capabilities, and technical capability w ere found to be im portant.
Billesbach and Hayen ( 1994) examined balance sheets
of 28 di erent U S companies im plementing J I T to some
extent, and they conclude that statistically signi cant
im provements have been attained in managing the
inventory for a period of 10 years by this partial im plementation of J I T.
The study carried out by Banerjee and Sriram ( 1995)
( sample size = 207) has indicated the im pact of inform ation technology ( I T) through electronic data interchange
( EDI ) on: ( i) policies and procedures followed by the
purchasing department; and ( ii) organizational changes
required. The results show that the few er years after EDI
adoption, the more im portant com pu ter sk ills were for
buyers, and the greater the need for buyer retraining.
F urther, the higher the percentage of purchasing transactions using EDI , the greater the perception of purchasing
in exibility. Encouraging vendors to use EDI creates signi cant changes in purch asing procedures and also
reduces operating ine ciencies. The more strongly the
company encourages its vendor to adopt EDI , the
few er changes are necessary in the organizations.
F aw cett and Scully ( 1995) used survey -based m ethodology to examine the im pact of J I T purchasing strategies
along w ith a contingency theory environmen tstrategy
perform ance relationship to consider vital issues, e.g. in
planning, organizational support, and im plement ation
status, a ecting the success of J I T purchasing im plementation strategies. The ndings suggest that J I T purchas-

ing strategies represent an appropriate response to global

competition, and J I T purchasing can have a signi cant
positiv e im pact on performance im provement w hen adequate planning and support are in place.
M ohan and Singh ( 1995) discussed the existing buyer
supplier relations in I ndian dairy cooperativ es in Gujarat
on the basis of the opinions of 71 executiv es in nine federations. Three types of buyersupplier strategies, i.e.
group of small vendors, small dominant suppliers and a
few sm all vendors, and long-term partnership have been
described w ith their relativ e percentage. The dominance
of a single supplier is found to be discouraged.
Tersine and Hum mingbird ( 1995) emphasized lead
tim e reduction to gain compet itiv e advantages, and discussed comp etitor- and customer-centred methods to
reduce lead tim e. A continuous im provement framew ork
is described in the competitor-centred method, and the
customer-centred approach explains how the productionconsum ption gap can be reduced.
W aters-F uller ( 1995) classi ed the J I T Sourcing literature into three groups the advocate school, pragmatist school and sceptical school. L iterature on these three
schools have been discussed w ith J I T purchasing and
supply/sourcin g attributes, e.g. long-term contracts,
total quality suppliers, dependable deliveries, sm all lot
sizes, exchange of data, reduced supp lier costs, and stable
schedules.
Garg et al. ( 1996b) analysed some vital issues in J I T
purchasing in an I ndian context on the basis of a quesionnaire ( n = 28) sent to 80 di erent I nd ian indust ries.
The issues include the im portance of J I T attributes,
problems in im plement ing J I T, and expected bene ts
from J I T purchasing im plementation. Some research
directions are also identi ed for future w ork.
Garg et al. ( 1997b) found the im portance of identi ed
J I T purchasing and supplier ev aluation criteria attributes ( Stamm and Golhar 1993) in I ndian industries
on the basis of a survey ( n = 31) . I t has been found
that 14 J I T purchasin g and nine supplier ev aluation criteria attributes are being giv en a high level of im portance
by these I nd ian industries.

2.3. Case studies

A lanso and F rasier ( 1991) emphasized that management should also apply and encourage J I T in planning
and m anagerial activities in addition to the manufacturing sector. They have also show n how performance parameters are im proved w hen the company reduces
managem ent delays. I t is also argued that the shorter
the product life cycles, the greater the bene ts attained
by applying J I T principles.

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J IT purchasing
F andel and R eese ( 1991) have studied a headlight
manufacturing industry w hich w as making J I T deliv eries
to a Germ an car m anufacturer with logistics constraints.
The practical case show s how acceleration of the distribution process in the supply chain can become an e cient solution w hich allows for optim al lot sizes as w ell as
for low holding cost.
Davis ( 1993) presented a fram ew ork for e ective supply chain managem ent dev eloped at Hew lettPackard,
w hich addresses the uncertainty that plagues the performance of suppliers, the reliability of manufacturing
and transportation processes, and the changing deman ds
of customers. I t has been found that sound data combined w ith the right quantitativ e techniques make a thorough supply chain analysis possible. Strategic decisions
on supply chain design can increase customer satisfaction
and save money . A pproaching problem s w ith a systems
view and a sound supply chain methodology leads to
greater savin gs.
K olay ( 1993) presented an approach for dev eloping an
overall performance index of suppliers. The approach is
determ ined for one industry. Dat a from 16 suppliers delivering 28 item s have been analysed to determine the
overall performan ce index of the suppliers. The suppliers
asset base is found to be appreciating. M artel ( 1993) has
explained the procedure adopted by a company in im plementin g J I T purchasing and dealing w ith suppliers.
I nternal changes mad e by the company, e.g. supply decisions ( A BC sy stem, etc.) , supp lier selection, partnership
w ith supplier and supp lier certi cation, and bene ts
obtained have been highlighted. Grande and Satir
( 1994) discussed the feasibility of transforming purchasing and quality control operations from conventional to
J I T practices. The study is con ned to the dock-to-stores
area of an aircraft engine manufacturing plant. Seventyfour components used in the study are selected from a
representativ e sample of inventory classes, comm odity
groups and agreemen t type w ith vendors. A tim ecost
trade-o analysis is also carried out for the components
selected so as to ev aluate the cost e ectiv eness of the
conventional purchasing and quality control. F in dings
on savings in terms of inventory-related costs and inventory turnover through the im plementation of J I T practices are also reported . A transformation fram ew ork is
then dev eloped to determ ine the suitability of indiv idual
components for J I T-based practices. Potential savin gs
that run into m illions of dollars and signi cant im provements in inventory turnover are found as a result of the
above transformations. How ev er, the savings and
im provements estim ated are con ned to the dock-tostores area. There is enormous savings potential if J I T
practices are successfully im plemented throughout the
company.

279

H yde et al. ( 1994) explained procurement policies

( contract grow out sy stem) in U S broiler indust ries,
w hich are found to resem ble the J I T sy stem. How ever,
it may be stated that because the products ( food products) are perishable and the waste visible, the broiler
industry is forced to adopt the principles of J I T purchasing.
E llram and E dis ( 1996) carried out a case study of
successful buyersupplier partnership, development and
maintenance at the Eastm an K odak Com pany. F iv e key
operat ing va lues identi ed w ere: respect for the dignity of
the indiv idual; uncomprom ising integrity; trust; credibility; and continuous im provement. These resulted in bene ts, e.g. time saving, long-term grow th, new business
and product dev elopment opportunities, etc.
W ood et al. ( 1996) have presented a prescriptiv e
approach for becoming and staying a successful part supplier. They follow a printed circuit board manu facturer,
Hadco corporation, w ho became a problem solver in
the 1990s from a technology specialist in the 1960s.
The learning points for small- and medium -sized m anufacturers from this case study are: ( i) by knowing its
customers, a rm can design itself to be the type of supplier that best deals w ith those customers; ( ii) corporate
transform ation is not a linear process; ( iii) successful suppliers provide distinctive comp etencies; ( iv) structure
must be adjusted to re ect the chosen strategy; and ( v)
problem solving is cultural, not tactical.
Chen and Chen ( 1997) conducted a case study of a
Chinese automobile comp any, and carried out a survey
of its 50 suppliers to study the current status of manufacturersupplier relationships based on J I T princip les.
Some proposals for Chinese industry w ere recommen ded,
e.g. establish partnerships between manufacturer and
supplier, reduce supplier base, select supplier in J I T context and continuously monitor its perform ance, dev elop a
supplier quality function, solicit supplier involvement,
reduce lot sizes and dev elop dep endable deliveries, constru ct a basic infrastructure, using E DI techniques, perform training and education in J I T purchasing and
supply. Garg et al. ( 1997a) conducted a case study of
an I nd ian automobile industry which has im plemented
J I T purchasing. I t has been found that m ost of the identi ed J I T purchasin g and supplier ev aluation criteria
attribu tes are being giv en good w eightag e. The company has sustained its com petitiveness in spite of old
machinery by applying J apanese m anagement techniques. J I T purchasing comprises a signi cant contribution.
L andry and Duguay ( 1997) conducted a case study on
a medium-sized Canadian industry, manufacturing
w eather strips for cars. The industry has integrated
M R P, kanban and barcoding sy stem s to achieve J I T
procurement. Bene ts achieved by the company include

280

D . Garg and S. G. D eshmukh

drastic reduction of total inventory levels, purchase lead

tim es, better rst in rst out control, etc.

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2.4. M odelling/empirical work

Golhar et al. ( 1993) have carried out a survey of 81 U S
manufacturing rms to nd ou t the degree of im portance
giv en to 34 J I T purchasing and 14 supplier ev aluation
criteria attributes identi ed by Stamm and Golhar
( 1993) . F ifty-three usable responses w ere recieved. I t
w as found that 29 J I T purch asing and nine supplier
ev aluation crit eria attributes w ere giv en signi cant im portance. I t is interesting to note that no signi cant
change in buy ers rms inspection of incoming parts is
observed. The quality of parts and reliability of deliv eries
are the most im portant supplier ev aluation criteria.
Erratic product demand and customized product w ere
identi ed as the leading problems w ith J I T purchasing.
R amasesh ( 1993) extended his own w ork ( 1990) by
considering three components of a procurement sy stem,
i.e. ordering, transportation and receiving and handling subsy stems. A n inventory model is developed in
w hich uncertainty in lead tim e is also consid ered.
Optim al lot sizes and ann ual inventory cost are also computed for various levels of investments to enable the planner to choose appropriate options. Baker et al. ( 1994) also
examined R amasechs ( 1990) work, and considered the
potential risk in long-term commitment. They suggested
that the management of the industry should balance this
risk involved, and reduction in contract cycle cost associated w ith the com mitmen t instead of optim izing the shipping quantity. Banerjee and K im ( 1995) have presented
an integrated J I T inventory model w ith a single
buyer and supplier show ing that a joint optim al integrated inventory replenishment policy, as opposed to
indepen dently derived policies for one buyer and
supplier, results in signi cant econom ic bene ts for
both parties. Gupta and K ini ( 1995) have analysed 11
papers on J I T purchasing and have dev eloped a J I TPQD ( price quantity discount) m odel proving that
price quantity discount is possible and bene cial in J I T
purchasing agreem ents. M ukhopadhay ( 1995) dev eloped
a PC-based sched uling methodology to optim ize
unloading using an algorithm. Nassim beri ( 1995) has
analysed the intensity and nature of the relationship
betw een principal operational J I T practices, i.e. the
practices that create the link betw een buyers and
suppliers operation chains. The study w as carried out
on the basis of a survey of 457 respondents in di erent areas from 50 I talian plants. The study has
demonstrated that the practices considered show three
main underlying factors: deliv ery sy nchronization;
interaction on quality; and design. Each of these

factors is partly indep endent from others and can be

interpreted as a distinct type of buyersupplier interaction.
Garg et al. ( 1996a) have analysed tw o inventory models under J I T purchasing agreements and carried out
their parametric analysis. They have also prop osed a
logistic-based inven tory m odel ( Garg et al. 1996c) for
J I T procurem ent con sidering investments in vendor
dev elopmen t and order processing, transportation,
receiving and handling, and quality assurance subsystems. A parametric analysis has also been carried out to
provide useful insights to help the management in decision making about the lev el of investment in the various
subsy stems.
Goyal and Desh mukh ( 1997) have emphasized an
integrated procurem ent-production sy stem and stated
that a J I T environment provides an ideal setting for
such a coordination betw een procurem ent and production policies. They also proposed a traditional
inventory model recast into a model for a J I T sy stem
for a single product, multistage batch environment aim ing at minim ization of total variable cost, and thereby
determining the batch sizes for the product and raw
material order sizes.

3. Suggested classi cation and analysis

I n table 1, a literature classi cation scheme ( Stamm
and Golhar 1993) is suggested for survey ed literature
considering 34 attributes. I t may be observed that the
supplier action attributes are not being giv en enough
attention; w hile outcome, buyer and joint buyersupplier attributes have recieved good response in the literature. Tables 1 and 2 show that several papers have
discussed only a few attributes, indicating the beginning
of specialized research interest in J I T purchasing by
academia/industry.

3.1. Buyer action attributes

A s seen from table 1, long-term contracts and few er
suppliers have received a good response, as in the past
( Stam m and Golhar 1993) . How ev er, supplier plant
audit, buyer responsible for inbound freight, freight
consolidation, contract carrier and emphasize performance not specs could not attract the attention of
researchers; hence they may be assumed to be of little
signi cance.
Table 2 indica tes that few er suppliers and long-term
contra ct are discussed in all types of papers. Supplier
plant audit and contract carrier seem to have been
ignored in the survey ed literature. Similarly, supplier

J IT purchasing

281

Table 1. I nputoutcome J I T purchasing attributes.

P urchasing
I nput to
Buyer action

J IT
Supp lier a ction

J oin t b uyersupp lier

A ction

O utcome
a ttributes

A ttribu te no.
N a me of
rst a uth or

9 10

11 12

13

14 15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31 32 33 34

18 25 9 10 8

4 11

19

15

12

16

16

12

17

26 4 20 5

L y ons ( 1990)
A lan so ( 1991)
Cu sum ano ( 1991)
F andel ( 1991)
F reela nd ( 1991)

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H elper ( 1991)
R omero ( 1991)
W eb er ( 1991)
Tu rnbull ( 1992)
Da vis ( 1993)
K olay ( 1993)
M art el ( 1993)
R a ma sesh ( 1993)
Golha r ( 1993)
Bak er ( 1994)
Billesba ch ( 1994)
Gra nde ( 1994)
H yde ( 1994)
L eavy ( 1994)
F aw cett ( 1995)
M oh an ( 1995)
Tersine ( 1995)
Ban erjee a nd K im
( 1995)
Ban erjee a nd
Sriram ( 1995)
Gupt a ( 1995)
M uk hop adh ya y
( 1995)
N a ssimberi ( 1995)
W ater-fuller ( 1995)
Ga rg et al. ( 1996a)
Ga rg et al. ( 1996b)
Ga rg et al. ( 1996c)
Ga rg et al. ( 1997a)
Ga rg et al. ( 1997b)
W ood ( 1996)
Ellra m ( 1996)
Chen ( 1997)
Goya l ( 1997)
L a ndry ( 1997)
Gra nd t otal

( n = 38)

A ttributes: 1: F ew er supp liers; 2: long-term contract; 3: increased volume to supp liers; 4: su pplier ev aluation; 5: sup plier certi ca tion; 6: su pplier
train ing and develop ment; 7: su pplier p lant aud it; 8: b uy er resp onsible for inboun d freigh t; 9: freigh t consolida tion; 10: contract ca rrier; 11: stab le
production schedule; 12: emph asize performance not sp ecs; 13: reliab le netw ork of supp liers; 14: statistical process control; 15: close proxim ity ; 16:
qu ality circle; 17: exible supp liers; 18: red uced set-up ; 19: increased customer su pport; 20: mu tual tru st and co-op, relationship; 21: increased
information sharing; 22: supp lier inv olv em ent in design; 23: contin uous im provement; 24: joint v alu e analysis programmes; 25: stan dard ized p ackaging;
26: freq uen t d eliv eries; 27: reliable deliv ery ( on time) ; 28: sm all ship ment size; 29: exact quantity; 30: reduced d eliv ery lead times; 31: h igh quality; 32:
elim ination of receiv ing inspection; 33: fair p rice; 34: redu ced pa perw ork.

D . Garg and S. G. D eshmukh

282

Table 2. Sum mary of attribute frequency count by article type.

P urchasing
I nput to
Buyer action

J IT
Supp lier a ction

J oin t b uyersupp lier

A ction

O utcome
a ttributes

A t tribut e no.
A t tribute typ e

9 10

11 12

13

14 15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Concep tua l ( n = 3) 2

8 10 3

12

( n = 12)
M od ellin g ( n = 10) 4

9 10

4 11

6 19

15

12

9 16

16

12

17

26

4 20

Survey and
review ( n = 13)
Case study

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31 32 33 34

Gra nd t otal
( n = 38)

18 25

A ttributes as for tab le 1.

certi cation, supplier training and dev elopment and

stable production schedule are also ignored in the conceptual and empirical/m odelling literat ure.

3.2. Supplier action attributes

Stamm and Golhar ( 1993) discuss only one attribute,
close proxim ity, frequently, while exible supplier,
reduced setup and increased customer support have
also been highlighted in the literature to some extent,
as is obvious from table 1. Quality circle is touched to
a small extent.
The concep tual, survey /review and empirical/modelling articles in the survey ed literature have, in general,
ignored the supplier action attributes, how ev er, in case
study articles, they have been giv en some w eightage.

3.3. J oint buyersupplier action attributes

I n the survey of Stamm and Golhar ( 1993) , only the
attribut e increased information sharing had been discussed often, w hile mutual trust and cooperat iv e relationships, continuous im provement and standard ized
packaging have in addition also been discussed frequently in the survey ed literature reported in this
paper. The joint value analysis program me is ignored.
M utual trust and cooperativ e relationship and continuous im provement have been discussed in all types of
articles in the survey ed literature.

3.4. Outcome attributes

The attributes, e.g. frequent deliveries and high
quality have often been discussed in the literature survey ed by Stamm and Golhar ( 1993) . The reliable ( ontim e) deliveries, small shipment size, reduced delivery
lead tim es and fair price have been discussed in the
survey ed literature. How ev er, attributes, e.g. small shipment size, elimination of receiving inspection, reduced
paper work and exact quantity seem to have been
ignored in the survey ed literature.
F requent deliveries, high quality and fair price
have been discussed frequently in the literature.
R eliable delivery has been discussed often in all types
of work, except in empirical/modelling w ork.

4. Survey of Indian practices

A survey ( Garg 1997, Garg et al. 1997b) was conducted
of I ndian industries to nd the extent of relev ance of J I T
purchasing attributes. A questionnaire was dev eloped
and adm inistered to 70 industries. R esponses from 31
industries ( response rate = 44.3% ) w ere obtained. Data
collected were analysed w ith the help of factor analysis on
a scale ( 0100) . The scope of J I T im plementation was
found to be 70 on the scale ( 0100) , w hich can be said to
be fairly good. This study had predicted a better scope
of J I T im plementation in I ndia compared to earlier
studies ( Prem Vrat et al. 1993, Garg et al. 1996b) . This
indicates that the scope of J I T im plementation in I ndia is
increasing. Table 3 presents the im portance of J I T purchasing attributes in a decreasing order as percieved by

J IT purchasing
Table 3. I m portance of J I T purchasing attributes ( in decreasing order) .

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N am e of attribute
H ig h quality
M utual trust and co-op relationship
R eliable delivery ( on tim e)
E xact quantity
I ncreased cu stom er support
Supplier ev aluation
Stable production schedule
R eliable netw ork of suppliers
R educed deliv ery lead time
Quality circle
L ong-term contract
Continuous im provement
F ew er suppliers
I ncreased volume to suppliers
I ncreased information sharing
F air price
F lexible suppliers
Standardized pack aging
E mphasize perform ance not specs
Supplier certi cation
R educed paperw ork
F requent deliveries
E limination of receiv ing inspection
Close proxim it y
Contract ca rrier
R educed set-up
Small ship ment size
Buy er responsible for inbound freight
Statistical process control
F reight consolidation
Supplier involv em ent in design
J oint value analysis program m es
Supplier plant audit
Supplier training and dev elopm ent

M ean score
M axim um = 100
91.4
90.0
89.2
89.2
87.9
86.3
84.7
84.7
83.0
79.3
78.2
77.6
77.4
75.0
74.2
74.1
71.7
71.7
69.8
68.5
67.2
66.1
63.4
62.5
62.5
59.7
59.3
56.7
54.0
52.4
49.1
46.0
44.0
42.7

respondents. Outcome action attributes are being giv en

more weightage follow ed by supplier, joint buyer
supplier and buyer actions. A ttent ion must be focussed
on the identi ed im portant attribut es in an I ndian industrial environment so that maxim um bene ts can be
obtained from J I T im plementation.

5. A pplication of J IT in an Indian industry: A

case study
A case study ( Garg 1997) in J I T im plementation of an
I ndian tractor assem bly industry w as conducted. The
industry has an annual turnover of more than R s. 3000
million ( one U S dollar = Rs. 40) . I n collaboration w ith a
J apanese company, it assembles tractors at an annual
rate of 24 000 units. The company employs 800 personnel, including a purchasing sta of 70, out of w hich 20

283
Table 4. L earning points from the ca se study .

The I ndian industry, especially autom obile components,

w ill have to becom e competitiv e in order to surviv e.
J I T system ca n help the I ndian industry in its grow th to
achiev e a com petitive edge.
P urchasing system has a great potentia l for cost sav ings.
Single sourcing in I ndian context is indeed possible.
There m ust be a com prehensiv e system for vendor selection and evaluation taking into account attributres, e.g.
quality , delivery tim e, fast response to engineering
changes, price, etc.
Sig ni ca nt bene ts in m any areas, e.g. reduct ion of inv entory, material m ovem ent, space and non-v alue adding
tim e, increase in product ion v olume, etc. can be obtained
by J I T im plem entation.
There is a great need for educa tion and training for
employees.
I nvolvement of top managem ent is absolutely necessary if
J I T systems are to be im plem ented.
J I T purchasing ca n prov e to be an aid e in implementing
total quality m anagement and J I T cu lture.

are executiv es. I t started im plement ing J I T purchasing

in the mid 1980s. I nitially, the company recieved discouraging results in alm ost all the areas for several
years, but managem ent w as con dent abou t the ultim ate
success of their programm e. A fter a few years, ev erything
w as streamlined and managem ent began achieving signi cant results. R ecords of the company indicate that
signi cant visible im provements in the cylinder head
line, internal liner, control housing, hydraulic line, transmission line and nal tractor assem bly line were observed
through J I T im plementation. Signi cant bene ts w ere
achieved by reductions in inventory, material movem ent,
space, manpow er, work in process and lead tim e, and an
increase in produ ctiv ity and quality. The key steps in J I T
im plementation w ere: extensive training of employees on
pull concepts; identi cation of key performance parameters; new layouts based on U -shaped cells ( w herever
applicable) ; standardization of operations; a maintenance plan for each machine; housekeeping; visual control;
and multi-skill training. I t has been found that m ost of
the identi ed J I T purchasing attributes w ere giv en
stron g emphasis. I n a wide sense, it can be said that in
spite of old machinery, the company is sustaining its
competitiv eness in the tractor m arket by applying J I T,
and J I T purchasing has contributed signi cantly in helping the company achieve competitiv eness in the marketplace ( table 4) .

6. Concluding observations
The objectiv e of this paper is to highlight som e of the
critical issues relev ant to J I T purchasing. Tw o sim ple

D . Garg and S. G. D eshmukh

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284

classi cation schemes have been suggested here, categorizing the available literat ure into: ( i) conceptual articles,
survey and review s, case studies, and empirical/modelling
w ork; and ( ii) buyer action, supplier action, joint buyer
supplier action, and outcome attribut es. V ast literature
on J I T purchasin g and its grow ing adoption in dev eloped
and dev eloping countries indicate the interest show n in
this area by researchers and practitioners. The im portance of attributes in J I T purchasing has also been identi ed based upon its frequency of citation in the survey ed
literature and in an I ndian context. The identi ed im portant attributes need to be paid close attention during
practice in industries, as full im plemen tation of J I T purchasing may not be feasible in m any situations. The conducted case study of an I ndian tractor ind ustry in J I T
im plementation has also given useful insights.
Based upon the w ork in this paper, the follow ing issues
need further scrutiny
( i) The im portance of various attributes must be
determ ined in speci c sectors in developed and
dev eloping countries, and then based upon this
im portance , a cross-national comparison can be
made w hich w ill be of use to practitioners.
( ii) A ttributes, e.g. inventory reduction at various
stage, elim ination of waste, early detect ion of
defects, etc. may also be considered in J I T purchasing.
( iii) There is a need to develop a performance assessment framew ork taking into account costbene t
analysis of im plementing J I T purchasing. This
framew ork w ould be system based spanning over
all business function s of an organization.
( iv) Currently, there is grow ing concern about the
application of TQM philosoph y in practice. I t
w ould be interesting to note the relevance of customer focus and buyersupplier linkages in the
overall TQM framew ork vis-a-vis J I T purchasing
sy stem.
( v) The follow ing issues need to be resolved in a quantitativ e framework
W hether inventory has indeed been removed
from the supply chain, or sim ply re-distributed
to other, upstream members of the chain.
W hat are the bene ts of entering into a
J I T program me and factors a ecting these
bene ts?

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