Pulling the Figurative Andon Cord

So the Andon Cord is a vital part of the Toyota Production System (TPS). From what I remember correctly an Andon Cord is a physical switch you can pull whenever there is a problem on the assembly line which stops the whole assembly line and alerts the Managers about the problem. There are several benefits for doing this. Toyota believes in finding a problem as soon as possible which means not passing on the problem to the next station where it could possibly escalate into something more serious or harder to fix or detect. Pulling the andon cord and stopping the assembly line there and then allows this to happen. Another is kaizen or continuous improvement. Stopping the assembly line sure causes a loss in productivity in the short term but in the long term root causing the problem and fixing it is way better for productivity than hiding problems under the carpet until they build up and cause a catastropic failure. I also read somewhere that Toyota measured the health of a factory by…