09 May 05
Autonomation
Bil Kleb wrote in to share an insightful term described in Taiichi Ohno’s book Toyoto Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production:- The Toyota production system utilizes autonomation, or automation
with a human touch, rather than automation. Autonomation means transferring
human intelligence to a machine. The concept originated with the
auto-activated loom of Toyoda Sakichi. His invention was equipped with a
device that automatically and immediately stopped the machine if the
vertical or lateral threads broke or ran out. In other words, a device
capable of making a judgment was built into the machine.
At Toyota, this concept is applied not only to the machinery but also to the production line and the workers. In other words, if an abnormal situation arises, a worker is required to stop the line. Autonomation prevents the production of defective products, eliminates overproduction, and automatically stops abnormalities on the production line allowing the situation to be investigated.
What sorts of autonomation does your project have to "stop the machine" before abnormalities compound?
