Mistake Proofing

A Contractor was required to submit a report each two-weeks to a major Client during the probationary period of their contract.  An analysis of their process found that 63% of data entry errors were due to three mistakes that could be Poka Yoked by simply redesigning the form used for data entry.  Poka Yoke is one important way to avoid waste and reduce costs.

Poka Yoke is one of the commonly used Japanese terms that have become mainstream in Six Sigma and Lean processes. Poka Yoke is simply ‘mistake proofing’ in Japanese. The originator of the concept, Shigeo Shingo was originally going to call it idiot proofing (or baka yoke in Japanese) but changed the term to the friendlier mistake proofing.

The idea is that a product should be designed in a way that makes it impossible to assemble it incorrectly. The concept was first used in the 1960’s within the famous Toyota Production System.

Think of the way some plugs only fit the correct way and yes, the USB port on Android phones is not Poke Yoke. However, on your car, the setup that ensures that the keys cannot be removed until the car is in PARK, is an excellent example of good Poke Yoke. Other examples include auto-save on a word processor, a kill switch on a forklift seat and the hole in the top of a sink to prevent overflow.

Whatever type of Poka Yoke you use it should be inexpensive and straightforward. Often the most efficient solutions can be designed inexpensively and quickly. Poka-yoke can be utilized wherever something can go wrong, or an error can be made. It is a tool that can be applied to all processes in any industry.

The main advantages of Poke Yoke are:

• They stop error in a process from happening
• Often low-cost, simple solutions
• Focus on solving the root cause
• Helps things work right the first time
• Focuses on continuous improvement
• Reduces training time and spend
• Involves front-line staff in design
• Promotes a problem-solving culture
• Improves quality control
• In manufacturing, can reduce rejects

If you would like to learn more about Poke Yoke and other related areas such as performance measurement, continuous improvement and benchmarking you may like to attend our exciting course, Performance Measurements, Continuous Improvement & Benchmarking.

On this course, you will learn about:

• Poke Yoke
• Measuring performance
• How to instigate and measure continuous improvement
• Running a benchmarking project
• Problem solving

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