What is Poka Yoke System

Poka Yoke System

Poka yoke is more of a concept than a procedure. The term poka-yoke was applied by Shigeo Shingo in the 1960s to industrial processes designed to prevent human errors. Shingo redesigned a process in which factory workers, while assembling a small switch, would often forget to insert the required spring under one of the switch buttons. In the redesigned process, the worker would perform the task in two steps, first preparing the two required springs and placing them in a placeholder, then inserting the springs from the placeholder into the switch. When a spring remained in the placeholder, the workers knew that they had forgotten to insert it and could correct the mistake effortlessly. Poka yoke is sometimes referred to in English by some people as "foolproofing". However, this doesn't sound politically correct if applied to employees, so the English equivalent used by Shingo was "error avoidance." Other variants like "mistake proofing" or "fail-safe operation" have likewise become popular.

Poka-yoke is a quality assurance technique developed by Japanese manufacturing engineers. The term "poka-yoke" comes from the Japanese words "poka" (inadvertent mistake) and "yoke" (prevent) . The essential idea of poka-yoke is to design your process so that mistakes are impossible or at least easily detected and corrected. No one can make you use pneumatic tools; it just makes things easier, by using the additional power that's available.

The main objective of poka yoke system is to achieve zero defects. In fact, it is just one of the many components of Shingo's Zero Quality Control (ZQC) system, the goal of which is to eliminate defective products.Poka yoke is implemented by using simple objects like fixtures, jigs, gadgets, warning devices, paper systems, and the like to prevent people from committing mistakes, even if they try to! These objects, known as poka yoke devices, are usually used to stop the machine and alert the operator if something is about to go wrong. Microntech is one of the prominent sellers and distributors of pneumatic air tools which are designed with keeping poka yoke technology in mind, that's why tools available have been cleared of any engineering mistake and can used for a long time.