Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived impact of just‐in‐time (JIT) implementation on operations performance, identify the relationship between elements of JIT (integrated and individual) and performance metrics, and based on the results, present some helpful suggests for improving JIT implementation in manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach Framework and hypotheses based on literature review were first constructed, then a questionnaire was developed to collect data from mainland China; in total, 224 information responses were obtained, then statistical analysis was carried out to test the hypotheses. Based on the data analysis results, conclusion and managerial insight were summarized. Findings Results show that, no matter what kind of industry or scale of sale of the firm, implementation of an aggregate bundle of JIT elements can improve production operations performance. However, for individual elements of JIT, their impacts are different; some basic elements of JIT like 5S, multiple‐skill employee and JIT purchasing can play a more remarkable role than other elements. Practical implications The conclusions of this paper can benefit firms in improving implementation of JIT in practice, especially for those firms in developing countries. Originality/value Although a number of studies on JIT implementation have been reported in developed countries, little attention has been paid to the status of Chinese firms; this paper has value for examining the practice of JIT in China and reference value for other developing countries’ firms.
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