Question

What is Jidoka? What are the two main elements of Jidoka? What do they target to accomplish?

Answer 1

Jidoka is a Japanese term for the word autonomation .jo.the word autonomation .jidoka systems can be plainly described as "automation with a human touch" or "intelligent automation."     It was first introduced by the founder  of Toyota company ,sakichi Toyota.he invented a textile loom that automatically stopped if any thread broke. This technique synchs with the famous saying "a stitch in time saves nine".,because jidoka systems aim on detecting and fixing any small  or big defects that will occur in systems which are mostly operated by automatic machines so that the problem doesn't result in any damage further . The defects and damages can be very small  like the breaking of the thread in the loom.this detection becomes very essential because any minor defects in the manufacturing systems will result in huge damage to the whole manufacturing or defective production .so In jidoka systems, the defects in the devices are noticed as soon as it  occurs before things go out of hand and will be fixed by the workers .there comes our thing of "human touch " which I mentioned in the phrase"automation with human touch". At Toyota company, jidoka is seen as the ability to stop a machine or process if there are any problems".if you cannot prevent the mistake,atleast the machine should stop so that you can fix it ".,is the theme behind jidoka. The steps in jidoka are: I.)detection of the defect or the deviation in the process of production.     II.) The production stops so that there will be no further damage caused due to malfunction. III.)repairing the machines and restore proper functioning. Iv.)investigation of the root cause of problem so as to prevent such   situations in future. Prevention of reoccurrence 9f the problem becomes simple as the abnormality in the functioning of machines becomes more obvious and easy to detect.thus It is possible to buid quality in the production process.   Question no2: the 2 main elements of jidoka: mechanical jidoka:the equipment is designed in such a way that it stops automatically and call for attention. For instance take the elevator.if the elevator gets loaded with overweight, then it stops automatically and try to warn the users of overweight. Jidoka is one of the pillars behind the making of Toyota and can be called as secret of success of Toyota. Human jidoka:operators are trained and equipped with means to stop the production process (for  instance they may have a stop button orcan alarming bell.)sothat they can stop the production whenever they desire if they spot any thing suspicious or defective in the production process. Question no3:,the targets that the jidoka elements aim to accomplish: the mechanical jidoka sees that the production or process stops whenever a defect or problem Is noticed and makes an alert so as to make a note that the process or production has stopped. The human jidoka aim is to check and fix the machines that stopped so that the machines won't produce any defective items.