The Mistake Board

It is an enigma, puzzlement, and a conundrum, that in industry we don’t want people to make mistakes, for mistakes can be very costly, but in truth people learn best from their own mistakes.  So how can you let people learn from mistakes and yet at the same time eliminate the cost of those mistakes?  I think; you must set priorities.  I think; the first priority is to please your customers and secondly is to develop people to learn new skills and to use their creative problem solving abilities.

Dr. Shingo early on recognized that you couldn’t get zero defects by shouting at people to “not make mistakes.”  No one really wants to make mistakes.  So, he invented a very powerful process called “poka-yoke,” asking all employees to make simple devices that prevent defects from occurring.  Poka-yoke recognizes that people make mistakes, but they are prevented from going on to the next person, your customer.

Toyota also has a system, which allows a worker to pull a cord to stop the line, stop everyone around them from working.  They do not want a problem, a defect to be passed on.

On my last study mission to Japan, this past September, I visited Hino Motors, Toyota’s truck and Bus Company.  As I walked along the assembly line I noticed a large bulletin board with around 30 sheets of paper.  On each sheet was the picture of a worker and underneath were things written in Japanese.  I asked the plant manager to please explain the purpose.  He said, “Whenever a worker makes a mistake they go to their sheet of paper and write down the mistake and what they intend to do to prevent the mistake from occurring again.”  Imagine workers are asked to share their mistakes with their fellow workers as a learning device.  They do not hide them as is often done in the West.

When a machine makes a mistake we fix the machine. We don’t punish the machine!   When a worker makes a mistake we often punish them.  For some inane reason we think that people are consciously making mistakes.  We must eliminate “fear” from the workplace and recognize that everyone makes mistakes, except maybe my wife, and when mistakes are made it is a great learning opportunity.