The Current Awareness of Just-In-Time Techniques within the Libyan Textile Private Industry: A Case Study Rajab Abdullah Hokoma Abstract—Almost all Libyan industries (both private and public) have struggled with many difficulties during the past three decades due to many problems. These problems have created a strongly negative impact on the productivity and utilization of many companies within Libya. This paper studies the current awareness and implementation levels of Just-In-Time (JIT) within the Libyan Textile private industry. A survey has been applied in this study using an intensive detailed questionnaire. Based on the analysis of the survey responses, the results show that the management body within the surveyed companies has a modest strategy towards most of the areas that are considered as being very crucial in any successful implementation of JIT. The results also show a variation within the implementation levels of the JIT elements as these varies between Low and Acceptable levels. The paper has also identified limitations within the investigated areas within this industry, and has pointed to areas where senior managers within the Libyan textile industry should take immediate actions in order to achieve effective implementation of JIT within their companies. Keywords—Industry, Questionnaire, JIT, Textile I. INTRODUCTION IBYA is a large African country, bounded in the North by the Mediterranean Sea, in the East by Egypt and Sudan, in the South by Niger and Chad, and in the West by Algeria and Tunisia. It is mainly petroleum producing and exporting country. The economy within Libya was formerly based on agriculture, producing fruit, barely, olives, and dates [1]. Libya was relatively poor until the discovery of Oil and Gas in the very beginning of the sixties of the last century. Since then, the country has turned to industrialisation by engaging in petroleum processing as well as some other industries such as Cement and Textile industries. Libya is committed to develop enhanced abilities to produce goods that meet the quality requirements of present markets with all the possible products and services, which could be achieved by providing the most proper and highest technology available [1], [2]. Very little research has been carried out over the recent years in the area of textile industry. However, a little of the published work was in the area of modelling and simulation of the manufacturing operations rather than studying the strategies and implementation status within this industry. Author is with the Faculty of Engineering, Al-Fateh University, Libya. e-mail: rhokoma@hotmail.com This paper focuses on this area of research to show how the Libyan textile industry is being run with respect to JIT and to provide insight towards future improvement. II. AN OVERVIEW OF JIT JIT is a pull manufacturing approach, also known as the Toyota Production System, which was established in Japan during the mid 1970’s by Taichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo at the Toyota Motor Company. Toyota was encouraged to be the first company to implement this system to streamline its production with a minimum holding inventory because inventory ties down capital and takes up. Improving the entire production system continuously was the core effort of Toyota, along with a dedicated effort to pursue perfection within its industry. This resulted in an integrated and efficient manufacturing environment [4]. This situation was, in part, responsible for the competitive edge that has been demonstrated in the world market during the last two or three decades. The Westernised version of JIT Lean Manufacturing came into widespread use in the 1990’s as a process for reducing inventory and streamlining production through a continuous improvement process [5]. Industrial organisations as well as academic institutions have paid a considerable attention to JIT, as a new manufacturing approach, developed for increasing the value added on the production processes, and reducing the waste to increase productivity. A review of the literature demonstrates that there is an enormous amount of research that has been carried out on JIT and its implementations in various business areas, all discussed the implementations of JIT in various manufacturing and business areas. Generally, these published works described JIT as a manufacturing philosophy, also known as a PULL system, used for producing, manufacturing and supplying production goods and services that are needed at the right time and at the exact quantities. In line with this, it has been pointed out that the distinctive feature of JIT is to eliminate waste and losses by organising the entire system operations and activities to take place at the exact time they are needed[1], [4], [5]. The JIT system represents the whole processes of continuous improvement during all operations within companies, and it has been applied to both production and purchasing systems in all production systems. In the line with this, it has been stated that JIT is a continuous process of change focused on delivering the exact needed quantities of goods at the exact needed time [6]. Additionally, JIT also focuses on the complete elimination of waste, which could be L World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Fashion and Textile Engineering Vol:4, No:9, 2010 886 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 4(9) 2010 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/3139 International Science Index, Fashion and Textile Engineering Vol:4, No:9, 2010 waset.org/Publication/3139