Question: How do you stop the line, when there's no line?

Jidoka is the principle of preventing defective products from moving from one process to the next


The video in my last post, demonstrates how jidoka is used by Toyota, specifically in their automotive assembly line. When an employee discovers a problem they pull the andon cord!  Highlight the issue until it's resolved, or the line stops.


But how does one implement jidoka in an office environment? I'm interested in hearing your input on this. How do you incorporate jidoka outside the factory?


How do you stop the line, when there's no line?


Do you have any experience with jidoka in an office? In a transactional situation? How about a service or hospital environment? What did you do? Was it sustained?

Comments

  1. I found an excellent post on this topic from Mark Graban at leanblog.org last year. He talks about empowering hospital staff to stop the process if procedures aren't being followed.

    Hopefully hospitals can build this kind of culture, because I can see it being difficult for a line worker to "call out" someone else unless it's actively encouraged and even rewarded.

    The post can be found here:
    http://www.leanblog.org/2009/03/stop-line-in-hospital/

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