JIT means removing, as much as possible, the inventory used to buffer operations against problems that may arise in production. The ideal of one-piece flow is to make one unit at a time at the rate of customer demand or takt (German word for meter). Using smaller buffers (removing the "safety net") means that problems like quality defects become immediately visible. This reinforces jidoka, which halts the production process. This means workers must resolve the problems immediately and urgently to resume production.
