JIT implementation in manufacturing: The case of Giacomini SPA Bassel Kassem1, Federica Costa2, Alberto Portioli Staudacher3 Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale, Via lambruschini 4, 20156, Milano, Itlay bassel.kassem@polimi.it, federica.costa@polimi.it, alberto.portioli@polimi.it Abstract. Purpose: The paper aims at exploring a JIT implementation framework integrating the hard and the soft pillars of Lean Production in a manufacturing company. Design/methodology/approach: A JIT cell creation project is analyzed in Giacomini using a Learn, Use, Teach and Inspect, LUTI JIT framework. Findings: Any continuous improvement project should embrace its actors in a lean culture for it to succeed, that is grasping the “who” and the “why” aspect. Practical implications: The main contribution of the article is showing empirically, the importance of the “who” and the “why” aspect in successfully transforming a batch-and-queue production system into a Just-InTime system. Limitations: The framework is applied in one company and one sector which may hinder generalizability issues. Keywords. Lean Production, Lean Culture, Lean Education, JIT, LUTI. 1 Introduction In 1950, Toyota Chief Engineer Taiichi Ohno was entrusted to improve the Toyota production system to reach the same productivity level of American competitors, such as Ford. Ohno overcame the expectations through the creation of Toyota Production System (TPS) otherwise known as “Lean Production” (LP) [8]. LP has two main pillars: “Respect for people” and “Continuous improvement”. The former pillar was less emphasized by managers until the publication of “The Toyota way” by Toyota corporation in 2004 [7] that showcased that the first pillar intrinsically enables the second one [3]. “Respect for people” advocates people’s engagement and active participation in value creation through a culture of learning and embracing change. The role of management in instilling trust between the different actors of the organization is crucial for continuously improving company’s operations, hence the second LP pillar [7]. Just in Time JIT is one of LP hard practices. It is focused on having the right product at the right time in the right quantity to the right customer [8],[9] and requires people’s involvement in its implementation. The literature review presents frameworks that deal with Lean transformation, when it comes to JIT implementation frameworks, those are not JIT specific but rather of generalized nature that authors tend to apply it to JIT. The main contribution of the article is the creation of an adhoc framework for transforming a batch-and-queue production system into a Just-In-Time system, by coupling LP’s two pillars in a Lean project at Giacomini SPA. The “LUTI JIT framework” is a JIT-specific framework, where LUTI stands for Learn, Use, Teach and Inspect, an acronym which explains that the model comes from the experience of a Lean expert and then it is turned into a standardized, replicable model. This paper is structured as follows: after the introduction, section 2 discusses the literature regarding the JIT implementation frameworks followed by section 3 that introduces the project at Giacomini and its results using the framework suggested. The article concludes with important considerations and implications. 2 Literature review This section highlights the most relevant articles in the literature discussing JIT implementation frameworks found in Scopus that are available to download and their access is not restricted by their authors. [6] proposed eight implementation phases for JIT: (1) establish a focused factory; (2) streamline the order flow; (3) adopt good manufacturing techniques; (4) improve material availability; (5) plant-adopted standards, including information, design, process, and equipment standards; (6) concern with the quality improvement; (7) attention focused on improving skills and awareness, and upgrading the responsibilities of the employees, and (8) moving closer to customers. However, it is done with no explanation of these steps in an exhaustive way but rather describes them in generic terms. [4] believes that project management is a suitable tool to properly implement JIT: planning, controlling and monitoring can be also applied for JIT as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: Project management framework for JIT implementation The framework constitutes of development and realization. Development starts by defining the pr