Jidoka is one of the core principles of the Toyota Production System, one that empowers production workers to stop the assembly line and solve problems at the moment they occur. Jidoka integrates the two guiding principles of the Toyota Way: continuous improvement and respect for people.

Recently, Toyota has suffered some major blows to its reputation. The automaker’s failure to quickly respond to incidents resulted in the recall of millions of vehicles, millions of dollars in fines levied by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), individual and class-action lawsuits, and damage to the Toyota brand name. Because of the problems, Toyota could be looking at a financial loss of more than $10 billion.

In the first two articles of this series (Zenjidoka Part I, Zenjidoka II), we introduced the concept of zenjidoka, the extension of jidoka from the factory floor to all employees who interact directly with customers.

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