Wheel Nut: I could write a whole essay about Just-in-time and why it is beneficial to organisations.
Essentially transport (road rail barge) is cheap. Especially if the load is light weight and high value (like anything electronic). Holding stock costs money. If you have shops full of stock all over the country and local warehouses stocked ready to feed them, then you may have millions of pounds worth of stuff just sitting doing nothing. That stuff has to be paid for, as does the space it uses so; if you get rid of the stock, organise the manufacturer to deliver on demand, and keep your inventory down to the bare minimum, you can save huge amounts of money.