1. Study the operations of an electric utility company, and determine where the production of electricity stands vis-à-vis push or pull systems. Using charts and narrative, explain your finding.

2. Study the operation of a supermarket, and list the JIT/Lean features in use. Look for special JIT/Lean practices such as supplier partnerships, and describe how they operate in a supermarket environment.
3. Develop a chart contrasting the philosophies of mass production and JIT/Lean.
4. Mass production was the most successful production system from the time of Henry Ford’s Model T until the 1960s.
There is no question that this system permitted the manufacture of a wide range of goods at much lower prices than had been possible before then. Given this success, how do you explain that JIT/Lean is supplanting mass production?
5. You are the president of a new division of a major auto producer. Your organization has been chartered to design and build a line of cars to compete with intermediate-size Asian and European imports. The division is to be located in a historically agricultural state that has availability of unskilled labor but no experience in auto manufacturing. Your key staff and mid-level managers will be handpicked from among other divisions. The corporate headquarters staff has not been able to come to terms with how the new division should be set up. The options seem to be these:

(a) set up as a total quality organization, using JIT/Lean in the factory or

(b) because the corporation has little experience with either, set up like the other divisions in a traditional hierarchy and production system, converting to total quality and JIT/Lean little by little as time and experience permit. You believe that in the long run, total quality and JIT/Lean are necessary to compete, especially with the Japanese and Koreans. But you and the people who will make up the division’s management team are experts in mass production. Going the traditional route looks like an easier start-up path. Going directly to total quality or JIT/Lean has unknowns.
The CEO is leaning toward letting you make the call, but he wants you to convince him and the senior staff. You have to prepare a briefing for the corporate staff for that purpose.
Which course will you choose? Explain the advantages and possible pitfalls of both, and make the argument that supports your choice.