Henry Ford practiced short$-$cycle manufacturing in the $1910$s$.$ The basic tools of total quality management were developed and practiced at Western Electric in the $1920$s$.$ Kanban is equivalent to a base stock system, which was well known since the $1930$s$.$ Thus, just$-$in$-$time is nothing more than a repackaging of traditional American ideas, for which its Japanese proponents have been greatly over praised.