Jidoka is one of the core principles of the Toyota Production System, one that empowers production-line workers to take immediate action the moment a defect is detected. The worker who discovers the defect pulls a red cord, and the entire assembly line stops. Co-workers and the supervisor rush over to that worker, forming an ad hoc problem-solving team. The team, led by the worker who pulled the cord, quickly works to resolve the problem to prevent any defects from reaching the next operation.
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Using jidoka and other tools, Toyota became the quality leader in the automotive industry, admired and respected by customers, competitors, and the media. Unfortunately, Toyota’s reputation for quality has become tarnished due to the well-publicized, sudden, and unintended acceleration problem, and the associated recall since October 2009 of more than 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
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Comments
Really? When?
Hello Mr. Bodek:
I will post the same comment I had when your Zenjidoka article was published on 2/14/2001. I never received any feedback from anyone. My comment was not rhetorical. It is curious to me that you continue to report how terrific Zenjidoka is but it is not implemented systemically within Toyota. Zenjidoka is not part of the Toyota and TPS culture worldwide. I pulled the red cord. No one came running.
My comment from 2/14/2011:
Hello Mr. Bodek: When do you think Zenjidoka will be implemented? I have
studied the Toyotoa Production System, Deming, etc. for a number of
years. I believe so much in TPS that I now buy Toyota vehicles.I have a
2005 Toyota Tacoma. I have had to purchase 5 additional mud flaps for my
truck becasue they keep ripping off of the vehicle. They are over $100
each after installation. I have seen many, many Tacomas with 3 or fewer
mud flaps.
I raised this issue with my Toyota dealer. They wouldn't do
anything about the issue. They connected me to a 1-800 number. The
person on the other end of the phone first asked if my truck was under
warranty. I said that is was not but I beleive Toyota has a design flaw.
The person said that my vehicle had to be under warranty, or there had
to be an alert in order for Toyota to do anything. Again I explained my
reasoning as to why the issue is a design problem.
Nothing ever
happened. My suiggestion went nowhere.The local guys at the dealer
agreed that it looked like a design problem but they too said there was
nothing they could do. We looked at the various mud flaps on the Toyota
trucks in their lot. Nothing happened in terms of Toyota doing anything
about what I perceived to be a problem. "When an employee hears directly
or indirectly about a customer problem or potential problem, that employee must stop, listen with sincerity, and take action immediately." I wish!
The following is NOT part of US Toyota dealer'sculture:With Zenjidoka, the first time a problem is reported by the first customer to the Toyota dealer, service technician, customer service representative, or salesperson, that employee would stop working and immediately try to get to the root cause of the problem. Applying Jidoka to outside the factory, every time a customer reports a problem, the Toyota employee would determine if this is a new type of problem or one that has repeatedly happened before. If it is a new type of problem then the Toyota employee would stop working, if possible even pull a cord, and call over a supervisor to help examine and make sure the problem is resolved before it turns out to be a disaster.If a new type of problem was detected by a Toyota dealership, in addition to solving the problem, Toyota headquarters in both the United States and Japan would receive details about what the customer said, what the reaction of the repairperson was, and how the problem was solved. Jidoka becomes Zenjidoka."
Thank you, Dirk van Putten
Jidoka doesn't exist in the US
I wrote a letter to the President of Toyota Motor Sales, USA in Torrence, California. I described my mud flap problems. I provided phtoos. I stated that I was trying to raise a design issue so I did not have to continue to buy $100 mud flaps or have unnecessary wear & tear without the mud flap. I referenced jidoka, zenjidoka, andon and the Toyota Product System.
I received a phone call stating that my letter had been logged and that if I had any other questions I could call. Any other questions? Really!?!?!?!? I didn't even get an answer to ANY of my quesitons. So I called 800-331-4331 as instructed and had a repeat conversation. The letter was logged. My feedback would be consolidated with other feedback. That is all. Nothing more. Have a nice day.
TPS ends at the border of Japan I guess. Deming who? Shingo what? Understanding variation? You mean in the quarterly finance report, right?
I have to get back to meeting my personal gaols and suboptimizing processes so I can pay for more mud flaps.
Sincerley, Dirk
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