Jidoka

Jidoka is a pillar of Lean and hence Kanban, "build in quality" or "quality at the source". Super important!

Quality at the source means to identify and correct problems when and where they occur. The Japanese refer to this concept as jidoka. In a JIT (just in time) system, everyone in the company is responsible for quality and workers use statistical control charts and other techniques to monitor their own work. Everyone's attitude must include the idea that quality is my job, where quality is defined as conformance to specifications, as opposed to design quality.

Jidoka also includes automated inspection frequently referred to as "autonomation". The idea is to make inspection part of the production process, rather than a separate activity, to insure that defective work is not moved on to the next stage in the process. The goal is to stop the production line and correct the problem at the source of the problem.