Tools and Tactics for Operations Managers (Collection)

J

JCAHO – See Joint Commission.

jidoka – The Toyota Production System practice of designing processes and empowering workers to shut down a process when an abnormal condition occurs; sometimes called autonomation.

The Japanese word “jidoka” is often translated as “autonomation,” which is a contraction of the words “autonomous” and “automation.” Jidoka is sometimes translated as “automation with a human touch (or human mind).” According to Ohno (1978), the original jidoka device was a loom developed by Sakichi Toyoda (1867-1930), the founder of the Toyota Motor Company. This loom stopped instantly if any one of the threads broke so defective products ...