Which principle used in lean would allow an employee to have autonomation?

Which principle used in lean would allow an employee to have autonomation?

• A. Kanban
• B. Jidoka
• C. Andon
• D. Takt Time

Answer: (B)

Jidoka is the lean principle that blends automation with human oversight, giving workers the authority to stop the process as soon as a defect or abnormal condition is detected. This is autonomation in action: when something goes wrong, the line is halted so the issue can be contained, investigated, and corrected before more work is done. By stopping to fix problems at the source, quality is built in and downstream waste is prevented, making the process more reliable and easier to improve over time. Kanban is about signaling and scheduling work to pull materials through the system, not about stopping the line for quality issues. Andon is a signaling mechanism that raises awareness of a problem, but it operates within the Jidoka framework rather than being the principle that empowers workers to halt production. Takt Time sets the production pace to match demand, which focuses on flow efficiency rather than on preventing defects through worker-initiated stoppage. So the one that enables autonomation—the worker’s ability to stop and fix quality issues—fits Jidoka best.

Jidoka is the lean principle that blends automation with human oversight, giving workers the authority to stop the process as soon as a defect or abnormal condition is detected. This is autonomation in action: when something goes wrong, the line is halted so the issue can be contained, investigated, and corrected before more work is done. By stopping to fix problems at the source, quality is built in and downstream waste is prevented, making the process more reliable and easier to improve over time.

Kanban is about signaling and scheduling work to pull materials through the system, not about stopping the line for quality issues. Andon is a signaling mechanism that raises awareness of a problem, but it operates within the Jidoka framework rather than being the principle that empowers workers to halt production. Takt Time sets the production pace to match demand, which focuses on flow efficiency rather than on preventing defects through worker-initiated stoppage. So the one that enables autonomation—the worker’s ability to stop and fix quality issues—fits Jidoka best.