Any organization has a system to operate it efficiently. But if your system itself leads you to problems, what can you do? Yes it is true. Many organizations have systems which lead them to problems.

Good example is the communication process in your organization. How many people involved in this channel of communication. In most of the cases many isn’t it. Longer the length of this communication channel greater the error it can create. It is interesting to see why there is a longer channel length. One reason maybe to keep all the parties informed. But in many cases this is to reflect the organizational hierarchy in the process of communication.

Another good example is data duplication. Data duplication does not add any value to your system. But map your data process and see how many duplications your system has. I am sure you will be surprised. In this age of information I really do not see a requirement to duplicate data entry. Again it is interesting to see why these data duplication occur in an organization. According to my experience this is to create variety of reports and point fingers at other departments and people. It may seem like exaggerated. But this is true. Many data entry points are useless for the functionality of the organization. Therefore these are unnecessary activities which will eventually reduce the efficiency of the organization. These activities do not add value to your end product or at least does not help that purpose. Even worst these activities can give you wrong information and lead to wrong decisions. Remember in every point of duplication there is a possibility of introducing errors.

I believe these are familiar to you if you are already working in a non lean manufacturing environment. In lean manufacturing environments though, there is a concept called mistake proofing or pokayoke. Aim of pokayoke is to create a system which is error proofed itself. The first step may be to implement 5S in your working place. This will avoid many mistakes in work. Analyze your system further and refine it continuously so that it will be more and more towards a mistake proofed system. When you implement pokayoke correctly you will see one very important fact about mistakes. You will understand that people do not make mistakes willingly and the system is what guides them towards mistakes.

A Key lean manufacturing principle used in error proofing is pokayoke. Pokayoke is used to create a system which is error proofed by nature. 5s might be a good starting point to create a mistake proofed system.

I am Aza a process engineer, consultant and a writer. I wrote the book “Lean manufacturing basics” to give you a comprehensive knowledge about lean manufacturing. Best part is you can download it for FREE. Visit the link above to get you copy NOW!

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