The use of just in time manufacturing system in ceramic industry

VI ABSTRACT Production process is changing from small workshop manufacturing to hi-tech and fully controlled manufacturing. Due to the increase of people's different demands, all industries have to add new varieties of products and also have to decrease the cost of production. Just in time production is the system that satisfies all these needs. Ceramic production has become one of the biggest industries in Kütahya both in terms of artistic and economic aspects. Competition in the market, high costs and customers needs require the need of renovation. To determine the renovation, the applicability of just in time production model to ceramic industry must be understood. In the research, questionnaire technique and in-depth interviews had been used. In order to analyze the data, external reliability test, frequency analyses and cross tabulations were performed. In the research the main research question is "Is just in time production system applicable to ceramic industry?" The sub research questions which were formed in order to investigate the main research question are as follows; "Do the quality control mechanisms used in ceramic industry and just in time production system accord to each other?", "Do the supplier relations used in ceramic industry and just in time production system accord to each other?", "Do the employee approaches used in ceramic industry and just in time production system accord to each other?", "Do the inventory control approaches used in ceramic industry and just in time production system accord to each other?". At the end of the analyses only the sub research question on inventory control was answered as no. At the end of the research, the research question was not totally approved. The reason is that, the not all of the sub research questions were approved. At the end of the analysis performed, the findings were discussed and the necessary changes for the applicability of just in time system to the industry were proposed.