Just in time describes delivering parts only as they are needed. No warehouse, and nothing sitting idle.
It is a manufacturing method developed in Japan, and the whole point is that stock is waste, so components arrive at the line hours before they are used. It works beautifully and fails badly, since any disruption stops production immediately, which the world discovered during the pandemic. There is a plain everyday sense too, meaning at the last possible moment, and arriving just in time is a small relief.
1phrasejust in timeA system of supplying parts only as they are required.
“The factory runs on a just in time system.”
2phraselastAt the last possible moment.
“They arrived just in time for the second half.”
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Factory & Manufacturing
First appears in chapter 8 of A Man Called Ove.
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