Member-only story
Are you doing something stupid? Here’s how to stop.
The Andon cord is a thick weave of synthetic highlighter-alarm-yellow that used to run the length of every assembly line of every Toyota plant. Along with the hundreds of metric tons of door assemblies and engine parts and radio knobs that snaked their way through these assembly lines, so did the cord. Gently swaying to the humming rhythm of heavy machinery and man working in concert, it was there, a safety measure, and a key to continuous improvement.
An employee could, with a simple tug of the cord, bring the entire assembly line to a standstill. Any employee. Non-manager, non-supervisor assembly-line nobody could, with a simple pull, stop the whole damn thing. The cost of such a stop could be something like $15,000 per minute, and yet, it was worth it.
It IS worth it for manufacturers around the world. The impact of stopping yourself when you’re making a mistake is huge. Taking the time to notice mistakes, stop, and figure out the problem helps root out problems.
The Toyota way
Along with stopping the assembly line, a pull on the cord would also sound alarms. It still does for many other auto manufacturers, and probably spoon factories, cell phone assembly plants, and…
