The Toyota assembly plant in Tennessee purchases several thousand unassembled parts for automobiles and then performs final assembly of the vehicles before delivering them to dealers all over the nation. Purchasing parts several days or weeks before they are assembled would increase the total cash outlay the plant has tied up in inventory at any given time. In order to reduce the expense of large inventories, most assembly plants have successfully adopted ________ inventory systems.

The best answer to the question: In order to reduce the expense of large inventories, most assembly plants have successfully adopted: just-in-time, inventory systems.

Explanation:

The Just-in-Time inventory system, best known as the Just-in-Time manufacturing, or the Toyota Production system was a methodology that was invented and adopted by the Toyota Corporation in Japan in the 80´s with the intention of decreasing production times and the response times of suppliers to the needs of assembly factories of the Corporation. In the end, the idea was to facilitate production and respond with efficiency to the demands of customers. It became so effective that other corporations like IBM and Motorola also implemented it, with their own variations of course, and after the 90´s and up until today, the method transformed and became the fundamental part of the system known as lean manufacturing.