Here is the original article in question, from the Wall St Journal. The article did a little fear mongering, as the WSJ seems to do about once a year, about risks of “just in time” inventory practices.
Womack is right to point out that, even in a JIT system, that safety stocks or “emergency stocks” are required to protect against normal demand variations. For vaccines and drugs designed to protect us against bio-terror attacks, thankfully the demand for these is very “spiky”, if it's ever going to be needed.
Here is my exclusive 5 part Q&A with Jim Womack from late 2005.
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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. His most recent book is the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus. His latest book has been released as an "in-progress" book, titled Measures of Success.