Poka-Yoké
Poka-Yoké makes human error impossible or visible at the workstation, before it becomes a defect: this topic teaches you how to spot a recurring error, design a simple mistake-proofing device, test it and keep it alive.
Create an account I already have an account
You can also sign in with your account from a TEEPTRAK site, without creating a password.
An operator fits a connector the wrong way round once a week. They are retrained, an instruction is posted, and the error comes back. This course is aimed at team leaders, methods technicians, quality managers and continuous improvement facilitators who want to deal with this type of defect other than by adding an inspection. It presents Poka-Yoké as formalised by Shigeo Shingo at Toyota: a device, often mechanical and inexpensive, that prevents the error or flags it immediately. By the end, you will be able to tell an error from a defect, choose between a control Poka-Yoké and a warning Poka-Yoké, apply the five implementation steps to a workstation in your shop floor, and check two weeks later that the device is holding up.
What you will be able to do
- Explain the difference between an error and a defect, and why Poka-Yoké acts on the former
- Distinguish the control Poka-Yoké (prevents or stops) from the warning Poka-Yoké (signals) and choose the right one according to the severity of the defect
- Recognise the three methods: contact, counting, sequence, with a shop-floor example for each
- Locate the source of a recurring defect using the quality history and observation at the workstation
- Design, test in real conditions and attempt to bypass a mistake-proofing device before validating it
- Update the standard, train the team and schedule maintenance of the device
The path
- The error is not the defect 4 min
- Prevent or signal: two levels of protection 4 min
- Contact, warning, sequence: recognising the right mechanism 4 min
- Tracing the defect back to the error that produces it 5 min
- Designing a Poka-Yoké and trying to bypass it 5 min
- Making the Poka-Yoké last over time 4 min
Prerequisites
No theoretical prerequisites. It is useful to know a specific workstation and to have access to its defect history (non-conformance reports, scrap, rework). A shop floor with existing standards and proper 5S makes application easier, but it is not a barrier to following the course.
The closing quiz
The topic ends with a 7-question quiz, and a certificate is issued on success.