Poka-yoke

Concept

A Japanese lean term for designing a process or tool so that mistakes are impossible or are caught at once, for example a part that only fits one way round.

Description

Poka-yoke is Japanese for mistake-proofing. It was developed at Toyota by Shigeo Shingo. The idea is not to ask people to be more careful, but to build the process so that a mistake cannot happen, or is noticed the moment it does.

Two kinds are common. Prevention makes the error impossible, for example a connector that fits only in the right position. Detection lets the error happen but stops it from moving on, for example a sensor that checks that all screws are present before the part is released. Good poka-yoke is cheap, simple and close to the point of work. It supports the lean principle of building quality into the process instead of inspecting it in later.

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Glossary

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Experts on related topics

• Mirko Peters · via iFAKT GmbH

Maintained by Mirko Peters (Microsoft MVP) · Last updated: 2026-11-11