Just-in-time purchasing: an empirical investigation

The just-in-time (JIT) literature suggests that, for JIT to be successful, a manufacturing firm has to make changes in its purchasing operations. However, empirical examination of the JIT purchasing related issues is limited. For example, a literature search identified 49 JIT purchasing articles. Of these, only 14 are empirical studies; two dealing with statistical testing of a few JIT purchasing issues. This comprehensive empirical study is undertaken to investigate (a) changes in the purchasing attributes since JIT implementation, (b) supplier evaluation cri-teria, and (c) problems with JIT purchasing implementation. Statistically significant changes are observed in 28 out of 32 attributes identified in the literature, suggesting that the manufacturing firms are successfully implementing JIT purchasing programmes. Of the 14 supplier evaluation criteria, the empirical investigation shows nine of them being important. Erratic demand for the product and customized product are found to be problematic (but not very problematic as suggested in the JIT literature( in JIT purchasing implementation.