Poka-yoke in a gearbox assembly line

An instructor for John Deere Harvester Works (East Moline, Illinois) says one of the smartest Poka-yoke solutions his teams came up with stemmed from a gearbox assembled without oil, and mounted on a machine, which required replacement after factory tests. The team streamlined production with a simple proximity switch that opened after all components were loaded into an assembly fixture. The switch prevented workers from using air wrenches to tighten bolts on the assembly until they had cycled a...

BPIR Categories

14.3.2 Implement an improvement approach/method/technique
5.5.3 Improve process/product performance