Order Processing and Just in Time Procurement in Public Institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria
Just in time procurement in today’s public institutions required the use of a structural approach to ensure that procurement processes are designed to achieve basic goals. The underlying concept of the Just in Time philosophy is the efficient handling of materials, such as providing the right materials in the correct quantity and quality and eliminating or reducing waste. The study examined the factors influencing the implementation of just in time procurement of public institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria. The investigation was carried out with a sample size of 7 public institutions in River State. The questionnaire was used as a research instrument that was administered and analyzed using the statistical tool of spearman’s rank correlation coefficient at a 0.05 significant level and the z-test was used to test the formulated hypotheses. The finding showed that in as much as top management decisions influence just in time procurement; lead time as well as the procurement process has a significant influence on just in time procurement. It therefore recommends: top management in public institutions should ensure that goods and services are procured exactly when they are needed; and efforts should be made to ensure that suppliers are aware of the organization’s needs on time to process purchase orders and delivery dates in that lead-time schedules are requisitioned in good time to avoid unnecessary delays and work stoppages.