Just-in-Time Manufacturing and Pollution Prevention Generate Mutual Benefits in the Furniture Industry

Managing the natural environment is becoming increasingly important to manufacturing firms; yet managers are also being asked to simultaneously make changes to improve their firms' competitiveness. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing has long emphasized reducing waste. Similarly, pollution prevention stresses reducing pollutants before they are created. During field work in five furniture manufacturing firms and a subsequent survey in 1994, I observed links between investment in JIT and improved environmental performance. More surprising, I also found that an emphasis on pollution prevention, instead of pollution control, improved delivery performance. Thus, production and environmental managers should pursue JIT and pollution prevention as complementary initiatives that can improve performance along multiple dimensions.