Application of Just-In-Time principles to The Chemical Industry
Amjad F Abu-Ali ,Bahman Ghorashi
Chemical Engineering Department Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH 44105,USA
The objective of this study was to develop a JIT model
that would fit a sector of the chemical industry, namely,
specialty chemicals. Applications of JIT in the chemical
industry are very limited due to the sensitivity of the process
itself. Implementation of this manufacturing technique has
been mainly limited to inventory control and operation
structure that include quality control, maintenance,
warehousing and other sections of the organization. This
study involved a specialty chemical company located in
northeastern Ohio. The particular manufacturing plant that
was studied was responsible of producing specialty additives
that are used in the polymer industry throughout the world.
Just in Time manufacturing is a collection of ideas and
techniques that is based on the total removal of waste [l].
Many of the basic principles of JIT can be implemented in a
manner similar to discrete manufacturing operations including
quality control and inventory control. Applications of JIT in
the chemical industry are very limited due to the sensitivity of
the process itself. Implementation of this manufacturing
technique has been mainly limited to inventory control and
operation structure that include quality control, maintenance,
warehousing and other sections of the organization.
Research methodology was composed of two phases. The
first phase involved data acquisition from the production floor
level and the plant management. These specific areas
included quality control, maintenance and warehousing. The
second phase consisted of the analyses of the collected
information in order to develop a JIT model. Two major
components were studied in this phase, physical layout and
the operational structure.
The most important aspect of the physical layout was the
space utilization and effectiveness. One outcome of the study
was to suggest a change in the location of the warehouse and
move it closer to the production site. This would insure
minimizing any wasted operations in transferring goods and
raw materials from production to storage and back. Another
feature of this design would be the easy access to the plant’s
tanks farm for transportation where trailers needed to access
without disturbing movement within the plant. Additionally,
the proposed layout would minimize the possibility of
employee injury. It was also determined that the plants
quality lab has to be moved closer to the production site
instead of being located in the office building. This would
have the effect of reducing the time required to test and
analyze the samples taken for quality control purposes. The
other option was to leave the original layout with an
alternative rout for trailer trucks to reach the tank farm
The implementation of JIT in the operational-structure
side included logistics as well as managerial issues as related
to 1) quality, 2) inventory management and 3) maintenance
and Logistics.
Quality should be maintained at the source in a JIT
environment. The company maintained a good quality
control procedures and documentation. On the other hand,
certain recommendations were made to refine the existing
quality program. Fore instance, it was recommended that
sampling ports be designed and located throughout the
process. Also, reworks had to be eliminated since it involved
holding excess inventory. Another important issue was to
install an on-line quality-check system and provide training
for operators. Strong interaction between the testing-lab and
the process engineers had to be established. It was also
recommended that a Quality-Circle program be established
with incentives for employee participation
Suggestions and recommendations that were made
regarding inventory management included many aspects. One
important issue was the need to decrease the number of
suppliers and establish long-term contracts with the chosen
suppliers. Furthermore, a reduction in loading and unloading
time of trucks was important. This could be accomplished by
preparing the shipments prior to the arrival of the trucks.
Input and output buffers had to be decreased to two days
while increasing the frequency of delivery with smaller
quantities. It was also recommended to maintain the number
of employees at the current number while utilizing short-term
contractors during the up-peak periods.
Several observations were made regarding productivity in
the maintenance department. A preventive maintenance
program was suggested to be established in order to minimize
repair lead-time. Time factor had to be introduced to the
work order to establish consistent repair lead-time. The
company had to evaluate the number of employees that were
needed in the maintenance department. In addition,
maintenance employees had to be trained cross-functionally
in order to be able to perform different repair tasks. Repair
lead-time also had to be controlled and documented.
In order to successfully implement the JIT principles in a
large chemical process operation, a pilot plant would be
essential in order to study the implementation plan. Smaller
companies might incorporate certain aspects of JIT
components in individual departments in order to gradually
adopt the procedures and evaluate the results. The next step
would be to evaluate the results of such adaptations and
measure the performance of this step. If the results were
encouraging, other JIT procedures could then be adopted in
the same manner.
In this study, it was found that JIT principles could help
increase the productivity of specialty chemical industry. Many
of the basic principles of JIT can be implemented in a manner
similar to discrete manufacturing operations including quality
control and inventory control. Certain transition steps were
identified for the company in this study, which covered many
aspects of the company’s daily operations as well as the
strategic planning issues.
REFERENCES
[I] Abu-Ali, A. Implementation Of JIT to the chemical Industry Masters
Thesis’‘leveland State University’ Spring 1999.

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