JIT practices in supply chains: a review and modelling for supplier base reduction for electronics industry

JIT practices adopted by various industries have been reviewed and JIT purchasing has been found to be the most cost effective and predominant strategy for controlling inventory costs. In the present work the supplier base has been reduced by grouping together various raw materials of similar type and procuring the materials of a group from a single supplier. Thus, a new JIT supply model has been developed for reducing the supplier base by adopting the strategy of frequent deliveries in small quantities. It has been concluded that reducing the supplier base leads to considerable cost reduction involved in the raw material procurement process.