Definition: The collective hallucination that parts magically appear at factories exactly when needed. Looks slick on flowcharts, but actually involves engineers frantically scavenging obscure Chinese warehouses for chips while pretending your toaster wasn’t three shady transactions away from becoming a fancy paperweight.
This delicate illusion relies on desperate emails to scalpers, sketchy bulk buys under fake company names, and prayers that one delayed cargo ship doesn’t collapse the whole teetering tower. “Just-in-time” is code for “out of luck tomorrow.”
Example:
The factory manager resorted to frantic scavenging on obscure electronic marketplaces when the just-in-time chip delivery failed, praying the parts weren’t counterfeit.
Our just-in-time model imploded after one delayed shipment; the entire line halted, exposing how shady transactions had barely kept us afloat until then.