Toyota has a rule that sounds completely backwards.
Any worker, even a new hire, can pull a cord to stop the entire production line.
In manufacturing, every minute of downtime costs thousands of dollars.
Most managers would never allow it.
Toyota does.
Toyota UK Magazine writes that “Every Toyota member is viewed as an expert in their field” and explains that members can use the Andon cable when they see a possible threat to vehicle quality. []
Inside the company, there’s a saying:
“No problem is a problem.”
People make mistakes. Machines break down.
If no one is reporting problems, it means people have stopped speaking up.
Toyota decided that stopping the line was cheaper than shipping a defective product.
So they built the system to catch problems early.
Over time, speaking up becomes natural.
Repeated long enough, it becomes culture.
The best systems make problems impossible to hide.
