Autonomation
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Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to effect the principle of "Jidoka" used in the Toyota Production System. Autonomation, or Jidoka, may also be described as "intelligent automation'" or "automation with a human touch."
The purpose of autonomation is the rapid or immediate address, identification and correction of mistakes that occur in a process. For instance rather than waiting until the end of a production line to inspect a finished product, autonomation may be imployed at early steps in the process to reduce the amount of work that is added to a defective product. A worker who is self-inspecting their own work, or source-inspecting the work produced immediately before their work station is encouraged to stop the line when a defect is found. This detection is the first step in Jidoka. A machine performing the same defect detection process is engaged in autonomation.
Once the line is stopped a supervisor or person designated to help correct problems give immediate attention to the problem the worker or machine has discovered. To complete Jidoka, not only is the defect corrected in the product where discovered, but the process is evaluated and changed to remove the possibility of making the same mistake again. This "mistake-proofing" of the production line is called Poka-Yoke.
Taiichi Ohno and Sakichi Toyoda, originators of Lean philosophy and practices in the manufacturing of textiles, machinery and automobiles considered Poka Yoke & Jidoka (mistake-proofing and autonomation) the pillars upon which Lean is built. Jeffrey Liker and David Meier, in the first paragraph of Chapter 8 in their book, The Toyota Way Fieldbook indicate that Jidoka or "the decision to stop and fix problems as they occur rather than pushing them down the line to be resolved later" is a large part of the difference between the effectiveness of Toyota and other companies who have tried to adopt Lean Manufacturing. Autonomation, therefore can be said to be a key element in successful Lean Manufacturing implementations.
