| Abstract: | The bold lines that have separated the application of specific production planning and control techniques to specific production systems are being blurred by continuous advances in production technologies and innovative operational procedures. Oral communication among dispatchers and production units has given way to electronic communication between production planners and these units by continuous progress in information technologies. Current production literature alludes to the idea that, collectively, these advances have paved the way for application of Just‐In‐Time (JIT) production concepts, which were originally developed for mass production systems, in intermittent production systems. But this literature does not actually consider the possibility. This article presents a modification to JIT procedures to make them more suitable for jumbled‐flow shops. This article suggests providing real‐time information about net‐requirements for each product to each work center operator for setting production priorities at each work center. Simulation experiments conducted for this study show that using Net‐Requirements in JIT (NERJIT) reduces customer wait time by 45–60% while reducing inventory slightly. The analysis of work centers’ input and output stock‐point inventories shows that using the information about net‐requirements results in production of items that are in current demand. NERJIT results in smaller input stock‐point inventory and availability of products with higher priority in the output stock‐points of work centers. |
