Yongfook is a web producer and usability consultant based in Tokyo

Just In Time

The economically-efficient justification to live like a slob. Continuing the academic theme possibly spurred on from my subconscious fear that I am slowly becoming a retarded gimp (by ‘academic theme’ I am of course referring to the fact that the last article had ‘a graph’) I am going to use sound economic theory to rationalise my dangerously casual bacheloresque attitude to housekeeping.

The Just In Time method of stock management is a process used in many real-world applications and usually has considerable financial advantages. It was developed in Japan in the 1970s and was first employed in Toyota manufacturing plants by Taiichi Ono - the father of JIT. The premise of JIT in a nutshell is quite simple, that being the procurement of materials is related only to immediate production needs - “oh no! customer want new car! Quick, you fetch wheels, I make headrests” etc. You can see JIT being used everywhere. For example - at the conbini, have you ever noticed that the pastry / sandwich section never has more than 2 or 3 of the same item stacked on the shelves? The rest are kept in the back (probably in a star-trek style stasis, or in a vat of liquid nitrogen) and are put out on the shelves as the goods are bought.

So ANYWAY. What the hell does this have to do with me?

To say that JIT is limited to business management is small-minded, wrong and decidedly un-awesome. I have found many ways to employ JIT in my everyday life that I feel, make me a more efficient human being than any other in the entire world.

For example:

“I have just used this plate. But I will not need this plate until the next time I eat. Thus I will leave this plate on the table and wash it just before the next time I eat. So what if I am just about to go on holiday for 3 months and the humid, moist atmosphere is a cacophonous playground for mould and mould-eating vermin? I am working towards the most economically efficient protocol. THAT makes me clever”

“I have just come home from playing football and have taken off my sports clothes. But I will not need these sports clothes until the next time I play sport. Thus I will leave them on the floor along with the other piles of clothes that I ‘wont need until next time’. So what if they ferment in my unusually acidic bodily secretions, irreparably stain and / or forever petrify in a crumpled-up-on-floor position after all the sweat dries? I am working towards the most economically efficient protocol. THAT makes me clever”

“I have just used this toilet paper”

And so on in this fashion.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 8th, 2003 at 10:40 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.