The Japanese "just-in-time with kanban" technique reduces in-process inventory to absolute minimal levels, in concert with the Japamse belief that inventory is an unnecessary evil. Due to the succas of Japanese firms that employ this type of system. American firms would like to import this technique and emulate Japanese successes. But this Japanese succus may be attributable not only to the just-in-time with kanban technique but also to the production environment in which the technique is employed. This paper simulates the just-in-time with kanban technique for a multiline, multistage production system in order to determine its adaptability to an American production environment that might include such characteristics as variable procasing tima, variable master production scheduling, and imbalances between production stages. The results have practical implications for those firms considering adoption of the Japanese technique.Stb1-t A m * lk&i!tbn/@mtionr Marmgment, ShuMon, Inventory Management, and Netwarb.

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Cumnt research studies in cellular manufacturing have considered environments constrained only by the machine resource, when in fact the flexibility of manufacturing cells is derived mainly from its allocation of the labor resource. This research specifically examines the labor resource in cellular manufacturing, also known as p u p technology (GT), through a wries of simulation experiments on a hypothetical GT shop and recommends conditions under which different labor allocation strategies may be appropnate. The effects of various product routings and scheduling policies on labor allocation are also examined. Subject Amos: Production/Operotions Monogentrnt ond Scheduling.