Poka Yoke the Office

"Even he who is wiser than wise may err"

Aeschylus (524-456BC)

Mistake proofing to improve quality

Many office based organisations "measure" their "quality" levels by taking a small
"representative" sample of the work that is being carried out and then auditing it against
"how it should be".

They then represent this as some sort of percentage.

Managers triumphantly announce "This month we have a 97.2% quality pass rate".

Contrast this with you sitting on a "Leanjet" aircraft waiting to go on your holidays. The
doors have been set to automatic.

The flight attendant has shown you what to do if the lights go out. You have attached your
body to the seat via a black strap and are taxiing towards the "big" runway. The pilot comes
over the PA system.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for flying with "Leanjet" today.

(Please note: "Leanjet" is not a subsiduary of Leankaizen,and does not exist as far as I know,
it is a name I made up for dramatic effect)

To put you at your ease, we are delighted to announce that 97.2% of all "Leanjet" flights
arrive safely at their destination without crashing."

Office based organisations need to get serious about eliminating errors.

Poka Yoke: What is it?

In this article I would like to take you through the technique called "poka yoke".

Poka yoke means mistake proofing. It comes from two Japanese words:-

Poka : meaning inadvertent error and

Yokeru : meaning to avoid

Some everyday examples of poka yoke to get you thinking

Poka yoke "sounds" a bit strange, but as you go about your everyday life,
you will come across many examples without evening realising it.

The Electric Kettle

Poka Yoke example - kettle
On most electric kettles, there is a switch with a sensor that
shuts of the electricity to the heating element once it has boiled.

This prevents the kettle from boiling until it runs dry.

The 3 pin plug

Poka Yoke Example - 3 Pin Plug

3 pin plugs are designed so that the plug can only be put into a
socket one way.

Pink? white emulsion paint (mainly for ceilings)

Poka Yoke Example - Pink paint that turns white

There is a new type of emulsion paint that goes on pink but dries white.

This helps us ensure that we completely cover the area we are painting if
the ceiling was originally white.

Car Petrol Cap Area

Poka Yoke Example - Car Filler Cap

In my Japanese road car there are 5
examples of Poka Yoke being designed
in to prevent problems

Road Rumble Strips

Poka Yoke Example - Rumble Strip

There is often a rumble strip at the side
of roads to indicate that you are no longer
actually in the centre of the road where you
are supposed to be!

Now that you have the idea, I am sure you
could think of hundreds of examples of your
own.

The thing that all of the "poka yoke" examples have in common is that someone has thought
about a potential mistake that could happen and has found a way to try to prevent it.

So how can "poka yoke" help us in an office environment?

A key basic kaizen principle is the idea of never passing on an error to the next stage of
our process.

We need to instil the idea of "right first time".

Things need to be error free from our first customer contact right through to servicing their requirements. Errors lead to delays, extra costs and poor customer service. One of the first
things we need to do is to measure the types of errors we are seeing at each stage of the
process.

By gathering this data, we can identify the chronic errors that are happening in our business.

We want these errors to Poka yoke. Preventing these "vital few" errors will have a big impact
on our performance overall.

Some Office Examples of Poka Yoke

Application form check list

Many office based organisations process some sort of customer application form. Often
customers fail to provide the information required to process their form.

One poka yoke to prevent this happening is to provide a check sheet at the front of the
form clearly stating what needs to be enclosed. Too often organisations blame the customer
for not sending the information rather than investigating "why" they have not sent it.
i.e. Is the Application form crystal clear?

Data entry

Have "pop up" prompts with some level of intelligence to alert the user if data appears
incorrect e.g. entering today's date by mistake rather than someone's date of birth.

Use of bar codes to scan information rather than rely on manual keyboard entry.

Storage/Containers

Have storage/containers right sized to prevent over producing, over ordering, or running out.

e.g. if we use 100 envelopes a day, the storage container in the area should only take 100

(not boxes all over the office, in random exotic locations, like under peoples desks, in filling
cabinets, on window shelves, in drawers.....this lack of poka yoke for storage often results
in running out of the item as know one know how many we have or where they are located)

Standardised desks

By only having, the materials and equipment that are required on a "standardised" desk there

is less chance of making an error. (Clutter vs. order)

Sign offs/check lists

For chronic error prevention sign offs / check lists can be very useful e.g. the requirement
to sign ones name (Ownership) and tick that various tasks have been completed.

(A bit like the "Leanjet" pilots pre take off check sequence)

Our challenge

The challenge is to first realise there is a problem with a 97.2% quality pass
rate. Think "Leanjet".

We need to think of errors in terms of parts per million!

We need to measure and investigate what our chronic errors are

We need to attack the vital few

We then need to poka yoke these errors out of our process