The contrast between Japanese purchasing practices and US traditional purchasing practices provides a good insight into the relative importance of JIT for US firms. Since the initial implementation of JIT purchasing in late 1980 by Kawasaki Motors (Lincoln plant), at least 50 companies in the US...

Certain Japanese techniques have been introduced to American management; one of these is quality control circles (QCCs). The intent of this article is to address the managerial aspects of QCCs rather than to explore their internal operation. A goal programming (GP) model is proposed and run with...