V. Albino et Ac. Garavelli, A METHODOLOGY FOR THE VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS OF JUST-IN-TIME PRODUCTION SYSTEMS, International journal of production economics, 41(1-3), 1995, pp. 71-80
Great emphasis is given by literature to the fragility of just-in-time
production systems, due to the different sources of uncertainty which
usually affect industrial operations. In this paper, the authors prop
ose a methodology, based on the concept of vulnerability, to evaluate
the effect of variability on just-in-time system performance. The prop
osed approach, specifically aimed to investigate the system sensitivit
y to changes (in particular, its incapacity of reaction), can be usefu
l to point out the weakness of such systems and to suggest prevention
measures as well as improvements of the management system. A simple mo
del, well known in the literature, is analysed in terms of vulnerabili
ty to show the guide lines for the methodology implementation. Two ind
ustrial problems are also discussed in order to stress the relevance a
nd the usefulness of the vulnerability analysis.