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Poka-yoke

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Re: Poka-yoke

#51

Post by csours »

cc439 wrote: post #32
philwelch wrote: post #4

This seems like an interesting and useful process design concept on one hand, and on the other hand, it also sounds like a Japanese buzzword for foolproofing (in fact, the article notes that the term was originally “baka-yoke”, which is literally “foolproof” or “idiot-proof”). On the one hand, I don’t think Toyota invented the concept of foolproofing; on the other hand, giving it a cool buzzword gives you an excuse t…

The way in which the term is used in the manufacturing industry is a different from "foolproofing" in practice. Generally, a Poka-Yoke is a step added to a process that requires an operator to stop and think about what is going on and whether everything is within spec before proceeding with the next step. One example I can think of would be a torque tool used in a critical step of the assembly process. Since modern f…

People will generally operate with common sense until incentives or pressure is applied.

If you are under extreme pressure to produce a certain count of parts, common sense is suspended and people do things like ship problems on down the line. (See also local optimization)

Re: Poka-yoke

#52

Post by gowld »

cc439 wrote: post #32
philwelch wrote: post #4

This seems like an interesting and useful process design concept on one hand, and on the other hand, it also sounds like a Japanese buzzword for foolproofing (in fact, the article notes that the term was originally “baka-yoke”, which is literally “foolproof” or “idiot-proof”). On the one hand, I don’t think Toyota invented the concept of foolproofing; on the other hand, giving it a cool buzzword gives you an excuse t…

The way in which the term is used in the manufacturing industry is a different from "foolproofing" in practice. Generally, a Poka-Yoke is a step added to a process that requires an operator to stop and think about what is going on and whether everything is within spec before proceeding with the next step. One example I can think of would be a torque tool used in a critical step of the assembly process. Since modern f…

A NYC-via-Japan subway practice is another nice example:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/79767/what-are-subway-conduct...

which led to this delightful friendly prank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9jIsxQNz0M

More examples of the narrow and broader meaning:

https://www.propublica.org/article/too-human-not-to-fail

But these aren't great examples because they don't capture the important aspect of an automated system detecting and reacting to an operator violating the process protocol.

Re: Poka-yoke

#53

Post by User23 »

I'd never heard of this, but it's an excellent concept that I try to apply to my daily living.

For example I accident-proof myself against spills by keeping a beverage in a place where it's unlikely to be knocked over, but if it is that the consequences are easy to deal with rather than soaking a keyboard or something. In physical terms it mostly boils down to minimizing the potential energy of everyday objects.

Re: Poka-yoke

#54

Post by lfy_google »

aerophilic wrote: post #38
dammitcoetzee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard not to be dismissive of what appears to be a simple set of concepts, but you're missing on an opportunity to learn a very cool set of skills here. I recommend that anyone who wants to live a better life and do better work read books on the Toyota Production System and Taiichi Ohno. As for Poka-Yoke, It's a word that seems simple but when used in industry contexts communicates a deeper set of requirements th…

Any specific books you would recommend? Doing a quick search on Amazon I found: Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time https://www.amazon.com/dp/143982097X/ref=sr_ob_1?ie=UTF8&qid... Taiichi Ohnos Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition https://www.amazon.com/Taiichi-Ohnos-Workplace-Management-Bi... The Toyota Mindset: The Ten Commandments of Taiichi Ohno https://www.amazon.com/…

There's also "The Machine That Changed the World":

https://www.lean.org/Bookstore/ProductDetails.cfm?SelectedPr...

Generally, anything auto manufacturing related works too.

Also:

"The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development"

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6278270-the-principles-o...

We see a lot of words written on "lean" software development but I feel like it's better to learn from broader sources, and from industries that have had a lot more regulation and time to develop good practices.

Re: Poka-yoke

#55

Post by lostapathy »

aerophilic wrote: post #38
dammitcoetzee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard not to be dismissive of what appears to be a simple set of concepts, but you're missing on an opportunity to learn a very cool set of skills here. I recommend that anyone who wants to live a better life and do better work read books on the Toyota Production System and Taiichi Ohno. As for Poka-Yoke, It's a word that seems simple but when used in industry contexts communicates a deeper set of requirements th…

Any specific books you would recommend? Doing a quick search on Amazon I found: Toyota Production System: An Integrated Approach to Just-In-Time https://www.amazon.com/dp/143982097X/ref=sr_ob_1?ie=UTF8&qid... Taiichi Ohnos Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition https://www.amazon.com/Taiichi-Ohnos-Workplace-Management-Bi... The Toyota Mindset: The Ten Commandments of Taiichi Ohno https://www.amazon.com/…

"The Toyota Way" http://a.co/d/eso4HOR might be the best example of a very easy to read book that explores the Toyota system in a practical ways.

It's full of a lot of anecdotes that really show how Toyota thinks in practice and isn't just a textbook you have to apply yourself.

Re: Poka-yoke

#57

Post by gwbas1c »

philwelch wrote: post #4

This seems like an interesting and useful process design concept on one hand, and on the other hand, it also sounds like a Japanese buzzword for foolproofing (in fact, the article notes that the term was originally “baka-yoke”, which is literally “foolproof” or “idiot-proof”). On the one hand, I don’t think Toyota invented the concept of foolproofing; on the other hand, giving it a cool buzzword gives you an excuse t…

> As far as I know, they still make reliable cars. But you can still drive a 92 Camry today if you wanted to with little fuss. By definition, we’re 26 years away from seeing if today’s Camry is quite that reliable.

That has little to do with preventing manufacturing defects and more to do with preventing design defects. A defect-free car can still break down prematurely because it doesn't wear well, used incorrect materials, ect.

Re: Poka-yoke

#59

Post by FooHentai »

csours wrote: post #51
cc439 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way in which the term is used in the manufacturing industry is a different from "foolproofing" in practice. Generally, a Poka-Yoke is a step added to a process that requires an operator to stop and think about what is going on and whether everything is within spec before proceeding with the next step. One example I can think of would be a torque tool used in a critical step of the assembly process. Since modern f…

People will generally operate with common sense until incentives or pressure is applied. If you are under extreme pressure to produce a certain count of parts, common sense is suspended and people do things like ship problems on down the line. (See also local optimization)

You have to account for fatigue also. While a repeated process can drop into the 'automatic' mode where you're unfocused but still running through the task, critical validations can be omitted when focus is not retained. These techniques guard effectively against that, as there are clear, focus-inducing markers when something is wrong in the process.

This is the main thing you're guarding against. It's not complacency, or additional pressures... It's just plain old boring fatigue which on a long enough time span will hit every operator.

Re: Poka-yoke

#60

Post by ycombobreaker »

Tyrek wrote: post #25
philwelch wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They called it the obvious word in their own language, it's only a cool buzzword to non-native speakers reading English Wikipedia. I'm more making fun of the American business consultants who are going to try and cargo-cult this idea and make it sound more impressive than it actually is by not using the already commonplace American English idiom that describes the same concept. The term "poka-yoke" seems to date fr…

In a large part, it's because Western business practices suffer from a lot of ego. I suspect consulting has a lot of cargo-culting because you need to wrap things up in a foreign veneer in order to implement certain optimizations without outright calling someone an idiot.

Maybe that is a good reason why "foolproofing" is not a great way to describe these process improvements. It is pretty condescending to label somebody as a fool for anynsingle erroneous action!
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