JIT - How lean production suffers from a terrible shock

A third blog hat tip in one evening - this time we are indebted to Peter Hill at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School. He spotted a typically topical and accessible feature on the BBC which describes the production problems experienced by Japanese motor manufacturers in the awful aftermath of the recent Tsunami. As Peter points out, the article is not only highly relevant in terms of lean production, but also covers broader topics such as contingency planning and responding to external influences.