Just in Time - why we keep running out of everything

Here is a short Guardian film looking at how the adoption of 'Just in Time' manufacturing and highly sophisticated global supply chains has, for the moment, resulted in a world economy marked by shortages of goods even in the most developed economies.

JIT is a ‘pull’ system of production, so actual orders provide a signal for when a product should be manufactured. Demand-pull enables a firm to produce only what is required, in the correct quantity and at the correct time. This means that stock levels of raw materials, components, work in progress and finished goods can be kept to a minimum. This requires a carefully planned scheduling and flow of resources through the production process.