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This
Week’s Topic:
Poka
Yoke - Not Just For Production Anymore
Dedicated Lean Purists sometime debate the proper
translation of the term “Poka Yoke”. Some argue it means “error-proofing”,
“mistake proofing” or even “idiot proofing”. Personally,
I prefer to bypass the translation debate with a definition
that gets straight to the intent:
“Make it easy to do the right things the right
way”.
Why do people ignore procedures, forget the
documentation, use the wrong process or generally fail to
do as they know they should? Very seldom is the reason
that they are bad people who are purposely trying to create
problems. (That rare situation is an entire different
article.) From experience, most often people generate
errors when they believe they have found an easier or
faster method to do their work – but fail to understand
they have violated a requirement.
While it is never acceptable to knowingly violate a work
instruction, the power of Poka Yoke is to make the correct
process the easiest process and eliminate the incentive to
miss a requirement.
Poka Yoke has been applied since the beginning of modern
production although use has accelerated after being
popularized by Shigeo Shingo and the Toyota Production
System. Manufacturers are very familiar with techniques
such as incorporating go/no-go gages into fixtures,
designing parts so they only fit in the correct
orientation, and using optical sensors to detect non-
conforming product as it is produced.
More recently, digital technology has added exciting new
capabilities to apply Poka Yoke to administrative and
office tasks. In many cases, work is constantly being
error-proofed without anyone realizing the fact. Examples
of this include spell checker, auto-correct, drop down menu
selections and bar code data entry.
An everyday example of making it easy to do things right
is a self-checkout kiosk. Although I personally resent
being coerced to work at spending my own money, I must
admit I use self-checkout when it is faster (and therefore
more convenient) than waiting for a clerk. Whether you
love them or hate them, there is a considerable amount of
Poka Yoke built in:
- Audio and visual instructions at every step
- A choice of English or Spanish
- Bar code scanning to eliminate any data entry
- Weigh counting to ensure the correct items are in the
bag
- An automated credit card transaction, or
- Cash counted as it is inserted
- A visual and audio reminder to take your receipt and
merchandise
- A simple way to ask for assistance if needed
I could probably find a way to self-checkout incorrectly
if I worked hard at it. And I could probably cheat the
system if I was a dishonest person. But since I just want
to get through the process as conveniently as possible, the
system meets the goal of “make it easy to do the right
things the right way” - and with no operator training
required.
Are the administrative processes in your business as
good, or better, at eliminating errors? Do you have any
examples of either effective Poka Yoke or attempts that
proved ineffective - or do you want to share a horror story
about a terrible self-checkout experience? Follow the link
to Our Blog to leave
your own comment of the topic of Poka Yoke.
Interested in more ways to improve operations and
increase earnings at the same time? We invite you to
download our white paper “Targeted Lean Six
Sigma". You are also welcome to browse the
list of
free white papers and other articles at Free Resources.
If you have a topic that you
would like addressed, or an Insight you would like to pass
along, e-mail us at: Jack.Rink@rmdonovan.c
om
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