Just-in-time in the plastics processing industry

Abstract

This paper reviews the applicability of just-in-time concepts to the plastics processing industry focusing on three specific areas: quality management, technological requirements, and raw material purchasing practices. Plastics processing is inherently hatch oriented, due to the time required to stabilize the moulding process, Just-in-time is generally thought to apply to repetitive rather than batch processes. The authors found that a number of just-in-time concepts are quite applicable to plastics processing.