I broadly agree, especially with your description of internal politics. But I also think it's important to admit that JIT actually has real benefits. It's not

I broadly agree, especially with your description of internal politics. But I also think it's important to admit that JIT actually has real benefits. It's not "just" a finance or paper magic exercise. JIT is an approach to answering to the question of "how much inventory do I hold at each stage of distribution", where inventory held really IS money that you can't spend else where. As in, it's money you can't spend on salary, or R&D or line expansion or anything. The risk management part is where shit goes astray.