Every Manufacturing Industry Need to Know About Jidoka

Jidoka is a word used in lean manufacturing. Along with "Just in Time," it is one of the main ideas behind the Toyota Production System (JIT). Even though the word "jidoka" is meant to impress, the ideas behind it are much less common outside of Toyota. Maybe this is because there are so many different ways to understand jidoka.

Jidoka is a lean manufacturing method in which machines stop working on their own when they notice something isn't right. Operators try to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again. The word "autonomation" comes from the Japanese word "autonomy," which combines the ideas of autonomy and automation.

Jidoka is one of the most important parts of the Toyota Production System (TPS), which led to the creation of the House of Lean. When intelligence is built into machines, one person can run many machines with little effort. As efficiency goes up, it makes businesses more valuable.

Principles of Jidoka:

Jidoka uses four simple rules to make sure that companies deliver products that are free of flaws:

• Find a flaw
• Stop doing what you're doing.
• Take care of the problem right away.
• Find out what's going wrong and get rid of it.

Depending on your business, these four processes can be used in different ways. They can help build a strong foundation for continuous process improvement. Using the Jidoka idea, anyone in your business can stop the process if they find problems that could hurt the quality of your product.

Jidoka is one of the two things that have helped Toyota become the global powerhouse it is today. Jidoka is often called the "forgotten pillar" of the Toyota manufacturing system because it doesn't get as much attention as the JIT system.

History

Sakichi Toyoda, a Japanese inventor who later started Toyota Motor Company, was the first person to use jidoka. This was in 1896. It was a simple device that could stop the shuttle on an automatic loom if the thread broke. The system was able to figure out that a line was broken. 

So, quickly turn off the machine and tell someone there is a problem to avoid making mistakes. After that, the person running the loom had to fix the problem and start weaving again.

Elements that Make Up Jidoka?

In lean manufacturing, the Jidoka approach has four main parts: detection, stopping, response, and prevention. Having a good understanding of these key parts will help you understand the theory and how it can be used in modern manufacturing:

Finding Mistakes: Every piece of technology should be able to find mistakes. Also, you should put in place an alert system. You do this if you find something strange, like a problem with a product, a mistake in the raw materials, or a machine that stops working.

Production Stop: Machines should be able to stop working on their own when an error is found so that the problem can be fixed. Operators should be able to stop production by hand if they see something wrong.

Efforts: Operators should look at the situation and ask for help while using methods that stop production on their own. Before deciding whether or not to keep making things, you should take preventive steps by a certain date.

Making Sure it Doesn't Happen Again: When short-term fixes allow production to continue, managers should look into the problem in depth to find long-term solutions. When the time limit is up and the problem is still there, a special team should quickly find out why and get production back on track.

Jidoka In Lean Production

Jidoka requires a change in the way the organisation works. Instead of ignoring small mistakes to meet deadlines, people need to take responsibility for making sure quality at the source. 

No matter where the organisation is on that scale, the person is always at the centre of jidoka. People and machines must work well together for deployment to go well. Follow these three easy steps to get jidoka up and running in lean manufacturing:

Establish Organizational Commitment: Managers should take Jidoka as seriously as Just-in-Time to help manufacturers implement a lean manufacturing system successfully (JIT). They often miss out on chances to grow because they are too focused on keeping a steady flow of workers and resources.

When management decides to use Jidoka, they should come up with and share a detailed description. Since it's a basic idea, everyone in the organisation should understand it. The process starts at the top and goes down from there.

Execute Readiness Evaluations: Use a Jidoka checklist to figure out what needs to be done after getting direction from leadership on how to change the way the company runs in a big way. By doing readiness assessments with the right people, the organisation can learn more about its current situation and get ready for changes.

The goal here is to improve things like evaluation, organisational learning, and the processes for coming up with new ideas.

Real-World Applications: Find and fix implementation gaps, then plan and start a specific Jidoka project with a cross-functional team. One of the fastest ways to scale it up is to set up machines or assembly lines that can spot problems and stop production.

Using a visual management solution, operators can quickly tell managers about problems so that they can be fixed right away. In the past, when a mistake caused the machine to stop, the operator would restart it.

Now, it's easy for staff members to report problems with safety or quality. Jidoka's practical implementation also lets you come up with plans to stop the problem from happening again.

How to Implement Jidoka in Your Manufacturing Business

Jidoka is a lean manufacturing principle that can be used in any manufacturing business to improve quality and efficiency. Here are some tips on how to implement Jidoka in your own business:

1. Train your employees in the principles of Jidoka. This will help them understand the methodology and how it can be used to improve quality and efficiency in the workplace.

2. Implement Jidoka into your manufacturing process. This may require some changes to your current process, but it will be worth it in the end.

3. Monitor your results carefully and make adjustments as needed. Jidoka is a flexible principle that can be tailored to your specific needs, so don't be afraid to experiment until you find what works best for you.