Jidoka (Zero Defect Principle)

Lean Green Belt Tool Jidoka

What is Jidoka

Jidoka is a method for aiming for zero-defects, by preventing their occurrence and structurally solving them as quickly as possible in case they do occur.

Why Jidoka

General advantages

  • Built-in quality in every process step instead of end-of-the-line inspection.

Reduces waste types

  • ☐ Conveyance
  • ☐ Inventory
  • ☐ Motion
  • ☐ Waiting
  • ☐ Overproduction
  • ☐ Overprocessing
  • ☑ Correction

When to use Jidoka

Essential conditions

Andon

Required to function

Kaizen

To prevent future process stops

Non-essential conditions

None

N/A

How to implement and use Jidoka

Implementation

Implement the following business rules:

1. Every operator is authorized and even obliged to stop the process line when a quality problem occurs.

2. The quality problem must be resolved before the line restarts.

Further aid:

1. Autonomation means adding intelligent features to machines so that they can help detect quality issues and stop the line on behalf of the operator.

Use

Implementing Jidoka when the quality level is still low may lead to too many stops of the production line. Therefore, use the following guidelines:

  1. Implement slowly:
    • First, only major problems may stop the line, when quality increases, decrease the threshold for stopping the line.
  2. Inventory buffers:
    • Keep some small inventory buffers between process steps so that in case a step is halted due to quality issues, the other steps can continue operating for a small time period.

Where to find it

IASSC Body of Knowledge:

Lean: 20

Yellow ➔ Understand
Green ➔ Analyze
Black ➔ Create

Lean Six Sigma: –

Yellow ➔ N/A
Green ➔ N/A
Black ➔ N/A

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About the Author

Floris Lap is an IASSC-certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and founder of Procestimal. He empowers organizations to maximize value and reduce waste through practical Lean Six Sigma solutions—contributing to a more sustainable world where businesses thrive with minimal resources. Contact us

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