Page 201 - The Toyota Way Fieldbook

Chapter 8. Build a Culture That Stops to Fix Problems 177

9. Change the measurement process from just quantity to built-in quality.
10. Teach people to solve problems.
11. Increase the urgency, and make it necessary to fix problems.

The Role of Jidoka: Self-Monitoring Machines
Jidoka is roughly translated to mean “intelligent machines,” and specifically refers
to the machine’s ability to detect a problem and to stop itself. It is an effort to have
the machine work without continuous direct human monitoring, and it will
sound an alert when there is a problem. Fortunately, many machinery manufac-
turers today are building self-checking capabilities into machines. As with many
of the Toyota concepts, there is more to the concept of jidoka than self-stopping
machines.
At the center of the Toyota philosophy is a respect for people and the value
they provide. Only people can think and solve problems. Machinery is used to
relieve human burden but is not a master to the person. Self-stopping machines
relieve the person from the burden of constantly supervising a machine, and
allow them to use their talents for more beneficial things (like adding value).
A legendary story at the Georgetown plant tells of a reporter who was doing
a story on Toyota and the plant. When the reporter observed the door assembly
and reattachment line, he commented about the lack of robots, which he had
seen in competitors’ plants. Didn’t this reduce the efficiency of the plant, he
wondered? The president of TMMK patiently explained that robots had limita-
tions. They were not able to think, and they could not feel. It was important in
the door installation process for a worker to sense what the customer wanted
and to complete the task with the customer desire in mind. How should the
door feel when it’s closed? How should it sound? A robot could not be trained
for these things. While the cost may be higher for labor, the total benefit gained
from having this sensing ability of a human was of greater benefit.
Utilizing jidoka is a matter of understanding where waste is in any process.
Do you currently have machines that need constant attention? Does this create
waiting time for the operator? You may have to observe closely to understand the
true condition. Long ago people realized that having an operator standing around
waiting for a machine was not desirable, so in many cases the operator filled the
time with “busy work.” You may not see any actual waiting, so you need to look
at the activity being performed while the machine is running. Is it value-added?
Notice whether you have machines idle because they need service but there
is no recognition of this. We often see machines that automatically feed material
and the feed gets jammed, or the material supply runs out, and the machine is
waiting. This is waste also. Machines should be equipped with sensing devices
and andons that sound an audible alarm and convey a visual signal to notify
operators when they need service (preferably before they run out of material).