The System Asking for Help

Here’s the deal. This is one of the most interesting topics to me, and I want to give you the history behind it, because it changed how I think about Lean. The idea is that a system should ask a human for help.

Short answer: Jidoka is one of the two principles of the Toyota Production System, along with just in time. It’s usually translated as “autonomation” or “automation with a human touch,” but the simplest way to say it is this: Jidoka is when a machine, a process, or a system asks a human for help. On a construction project, your logistics, schedule, contracts, and safety system should all flag problems visually so people can act.

Where This Started for Me

I learned from the book This Is Lean by Niklas Modig and Pär Åhlström that the Jidoka principle is not commonly taught in Lean circles. Here is how he frames it, at least as it makes sense to me. He frames Lean as just in time, and his definition of just in time is not just bringing materials just in time when you need them. It is just in time in a flow. So for him, just in time really means flow.

The concept is that you first have to be on a flow. Once you are on a flow, you can see whether there are problems with that flow. If you know the flow and can see it, or if there is an established flow, ask whether there are problems with it. Are there what he calls stops and restarts? Are there interruptions? Are there the bottlenecks Eliyahu Goldratt talked about? Are there roadblocks for the train of trades? Are there system problems hindering your progress? These are all things you must notice.

What Modig is saying is that the principle behind Jidoka is simple: once you have a flow, you can see the problems in that flow. Then the concept of Kaizen comes in, where you fix the problem you saw. And it is all based on respect for people. You have to understand your flow, understand where there are problems, and improve them, with a fundamental respect for people. It is one of the simplest and most effective frameworks in Lean that I know of.

What I Found in Japan

Then I went to Japan with Paul Akers, on his Lean trip with a group. I found out that the two principles of the Toyota Production System are actually Jidoka and just in time. I also learned that Japanese culture is based around Kaizen, making things better, with a never-ending search for improvement. As I understand it, that goes back through the Meiji Restoration and the time of the Shoguns. It is part of Japanese culture, not something they learned from Western society, even if Western society had things to teach.

As I understand it, in their Shinto and Buddhist backgrounds, they do not believe in throwing away human beings. They honor the inherent value of a human being. So again we see this pattern. Respect for people is at the base, then just in time and Jidoka, and this always elevating, magnetizing concept of Kaizen.

Toyoda’s Loom

In Japan, Sakichi Toyoda invented his famous loom. The Jidoka principle was that he had little metal pieces on each strand. If a thread broke, the metal piece dropped and hit a lever, and that lever stopped that loom. One person could watch many looms and only step in when a machine asked for help. So a machine was asking a human for help.

Jidoka is translated as autonomation, or automation with a human touch. You do not really get much from that translation. I think one of the biggest problems is that we are not translating some of these Japanese words and concepts well. What am I supposed to understand from automation with a human touch?

What really landed with me, and this is where it gets remarkable, is that Jidoka is when a machine asks a human for help. It is when a machine asks a human for help. When a process asks a human for help. When a system asks a human for help. When AI asks a human for help. You can plug anything into it.

What Does Jidoka Mean in Practice?

So what does that mean? Here are the implications.

• Machines should notice, according to poka-yoke, and stop if there is a problem and ask a human for help.
• A process should immediately flag itself and ask a human for help.
• A system should never hide problems, and should make problems visible so it can ask a human for help.
• Logistics environments should automatically signal humans and ask them for help.
• A schedule should be visual enough to ask a human for help.
• Anything we do should bring problems to the surface.

That is supportive of bringing all problems to the surface and having everything be visual.

Is Your System Good Enough Yet?

Here is the standard I would hold us to. Each of these is not good enough until it asks a human for help.

• Your logistics system is not Lean enough until it flags problems automatically through visual systems.
• Your process is not good enough until it asks a human for help.
• Your system is not good enough until it asks a human for help.
• Your contracting methods are not good enough until they ask a human for help.
• A safety system and environment are not good enough until it asks a human for help.

Everything in Lean is about seeing. Everything in Lean is about bringing problems to the surface. The Jidoka principle is not just some machine stopping somewhere. It is whether human beings can see what needs to be seen, know what needs to be known, and act together to solve a problem. If a principle or a technology or anything ever turns into hiding something from a human being, or not allowing a human being to see what needs to be seen, it is not Lean.

For more on visual systems, see Total Participation & Visual Systems.

An Example From the Conference Room

In the Lean community, people talk about pull plans and weekly work plans, and they say, put it up there and talk about where we are, what zone we are in, and how much labor we have. I would rather put visuals on the wall that show where the roadblocks are, and talk about problems. My conference room layout and Lean teaching is Jidoka in the sense that I am focused on the process, the system, or the schedule asking a human for help. A setup that only reports status can hide problems, and then it is not effectively Lean.

So here is the challenge. Ask yourself, is everything I have set up asking a human to help at the right point by flagging problems in real time?

Bottom line: Jidoka is when a machine, a process, or a system asks a human for help.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

On we go.

FAQ

What is Jidoka?

Jidoka is translated as autonomation, or automation with a human touch. My way of putting it is that it is when a machine, a process, or a system asks a human for help.

What are the two principles of the Toyota Production System?

Jidoka and just in time. I learned this on a Lean trip to Japan with Paul Akers.

How does Jidoka apply to construction?

Logistics systems, schedules, processes, contracting methods, and safety systems should bring problems to the surface visually, so people can see what needs to be seen, know what needs to be known, and act together.

What is Modig’s framework as Jason describes it?

Lean as just in time in a flow. Once you are on a flow you can see the problems with it, then Kaizen fixes them, all based on respect for people.

People Also Read:
Andon: Stop, Call, Wait – Building a Culture of Immediate Response
Poka-Yoke: How Japan Prevents Mistakes Before They Happen
The Difference Between Roadblocks & Constraints