A piece of popular lore, provided by Shigeo Shingo, is that the original name for mistake-proofing (poka-yoke) was actually fool-proofing (baka-yoke). Shingo chided managers at Panasonic for using the latter term, as it disrespected workers by essentially calling them fools.

Shingo substituted the word “mistake” for “fool,” because, as he aptly noted, making mistakes is part of humanity. “Mistakes are inevitable,” Shingo said. “But the defects that arise from them are not.”

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