The green book that started it all, this is first book on JIT in English from the engineer's viewpoint. When Omark Industries bought 500 copies and studied it company- wide, Omark became the US pioneer in JIT. It provides Dr. Shingo's classic industrial engineering rationale for implementing process-based rather than operational improvements in manufacturing. He explains the basic mechanisms of the Toyota production system, examines production as a functional network of processes and operations, and then discusses the organization-wide mechanism necessary to make JIT possible in any manufacturing plant.