Deep Thoughts by Nicholas C. Jacobs

The first article comparing JIT ordering vs. EOQ ordering was an interesting read, at least when you compare it to the other article with all the formulas. Once I saw all the formulas my eyes glazed over and had lost all interest in what the other was trying to say. Therefore, my thoughts on these readings will be mainly geared towards the first article that discussed JIT and EOQ.

I thought this article was an interesting read and was worth my time because it discussed the benefits and draw backs of the two systems, something that I have not seen presented in this manner. The author does a pretty good job of explaining when it would be beneficial to employ JIT ordering, as well as EOQ ordering principles. In the end the author mentioned that the best method may be some type of combination between the two, which would make sense.

However, this does lead me to ask one question, if the author is stating that in some instances EOQ may be a better method than JIT, then how come you never hear company's or industry experts talk about using this (at least I don't). In today's business environment, a lot of what you hear is focused on lean manufacturing principles, which include things like kanban systems, andon, five s, error proofing, TPM, JIT, and TQM, just to name a few, and what the company is doing to eliminate waste from its processes. But in everything that I have read discussing lean manufacturing, there is no mention ever of EOQ. Just about every article or book mentions JIT. If it is better to use in some instances, why isn't anyone else talking about it, or that company's should be doing this?