Fulfillment Wiki

Shigeo Shingo

Shigeo Shingo was a Japanese industrial engineer who consulted for Toyota and is known for Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) and poka-yoke, or mistake-proofing.

1909–1990 Lean consultant, SMED and poka-yoke

What they did and why it matters

Shingo's mistake-proofing approach explains why the best fulfillment processes block errors instead of catching them later. Poka-yoke means designing the process so a defect cannot happen or is flagged instantly, and SMED separates setup work that can be done while a line runs from work that requires stopping it. In a warehouse, scan-to-confirm picking, scales that reject a carton with the wrong weight, and pack stations that will not print a label until every item is scanned are poka-yoke. SMED thinking appears in quick changeovers between packaging types or client programs at a 3PL.

Related people

Sources

  1. Shigeo Shingo (Operations Management People, UEN Pressbooks) uen.pressbooks.pub
  2. Shigeo Shingo: Poka-Yoke and SMED (Learn Lean Sigma) learnleansigma.com