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the resources and efforts consumed by this structure, was not error proof! They frequently experienced planning reviews, extra freight, an fines for late deliveries. At least a quarter of the whole facility area was dedicated to staging the finished goods. Considering the "in-process inventory," we could say that more than half of the floor space was dedicated to inventory.
Later, when I started working at Toyota in Brazil, I almost went into shock when I met the single engineer who was responsible for planning the parts production and the whole assembly line .
As a matter of fact, in Sao Bernardo, Brazil, we had small production volumes but the complexity of a car assembly line is much bigger than the complexity of a fastener production facility.
I thought, "How is it possible? My friends from my previous job were always complaining about how hard it was to keep things running and how busy they were. How could a car manufacturer run the entire planning department with a single engineer? I mean, just one person was assigned to dealing with forecasting, production orders, machines' schedules, follow-ups, inventory control, etc.!
A tour with Toyota's production planner revealed to me many of Toyota's world-famous techniques. When I was introduced to Kanban, a technique developed to support the Just in Time pillar, I understood that it was also applying, in full, the principles of Jidoka. A Kanban system is designed to be run by workers from the shop floor, as it decouples the production's control from the production planner's direct supervision; there is no need for "experts" or follow-ups. The complex "puzzle" of adjusting the pro duction planning is replaced by a very simple task that is executed by the workers in real-time (see Chapter 4 for more details about Kanban).
Here, we must emphasize the importance of understanding the purpose of Jidoka. If Toyota had applied Jidoka according to its direct translation- automation-as most companies actually do, they would have developed very complex software to plan its production. By adequately understanding the technique's purpose, Toyota aimed its efforts at decoupling the Production control from direct supervision
Using Jidoka
When I worked at Toyota,Ihad one of the most valuable experiences during the launch of a new engine's assembly line. I was working Product Engineer. My office was located in an administrative building far from the manufacturing.