In this chapter we draw upon Dean & Snell’s(1991) notion of integrated manufacturing, as it conceptualises the new manufacturing practice in three practices: advanced manufacturing technology (automation), JIT inventory control and TQM. Advanced
manufacturing technology, TQM and JIT inventory control work in concert to transform manufacturing organisations, and they complement one another.
For example, JIT enhances total quality, because a reduction in inventory exposes quality problems that were previously hidden, and total quality facilitates JIT, because poor quality is one of the main reasons for maintaining ‘just-in-case’ levels of inventory.
Advanced manufacturing technology may also be closely linked with total quality and JIT. For example, Majchrzak (1988) observed that ‘flexible automation creates an increased dependence on quality control’.