Just‐In‐Time, New Buyer‐Supplier Relations and Change in Work Organisation

The paper will offer a work in progress report of a three year research project, which started in February 1991, at the Local Economy Research Unit, Hatfield Polytechnic. The project is concerned with an exploration of industrial relations and work organisation in the primary suppliers of firms who are in the process of introducing Just‐in‐Time (JIT) systems of work organisation and buyer:suppliers. Thereby, investigating a largely unresearched area. The initial stage of the research, which the paper reports, is concerned with the implementation and utilisation of JIT/TQM within the buyer company. An analysis of the changes in work organisation of the buyer company will provide the framework for considering how these demands/changes are translated into demands on the supplier, in what form and with what rationale