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Chapter 6
Jidoka
Stop production so that production never has to stop.
Toyota proverb
The Japanese word ji-do-ka comprises three Chinese characters. The first,
ji, refers to the worker herself. If she feels “something is wrong” or “I am
creating a defect,” she must stop the line. Do refers to motion or work, and
ka to the suffix “-ation.” Taken together jidoka has been defined by Toyota
as “automation with a human mind” and implies intelligent workers and
machines identifying errors and taking quick countermeasures.
1
At Toyota, I came to understand that jidoka means making defect-free
processes by continually strengthening
◾ Process capability.