Category: Examples Blog
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Preventing Toilet Paper Excess
At Boy Scout Camp, some young men get a little carried away dispensing the toilet paper. Perhaps it is their digestive system’s response to the change in diet at the mess hall, or perhaps it is just for fun. These excesses sometimes lead to clogs the plumbing, other times the toilet paper ends up wet…
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Telling Metric From Inch-Series Fasteners
A company called Metric Blue offers metric bolts tinted blue. Why blue? So that when you have mixed metric and inch-series parts and fasteners it is easier to determine which standard you are working with. Company literature says, “By differentiating the metric fasteners (and tools) through our “blue” coating, we’ve eliminated the risk of failure…
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Time to Change Your Toothbrush!
When the forces of commercial self-interest and of dental hygiene combine, how can it not lead to mistake-proofing? This toothbrush has colored bristles that become clear at the tips of the bristles through use. When it starts to look like the brush on the left, it is time to buy a new toothbrush. Planned obsolescence at…
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You Must Be This Tall…
A Poka-yoke classic: the go/no-go gauge applied to customers of a play area in a mall. Look for this type of device anywhere kids are.
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Don’t Throw Away Our Deli Baskets!
Even fancy sandwich shops can’t afford to have their trays discarded. Preventing customers from making a mistake, in this case, means making the trash can opening smaller than the tray.
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No More Marker on the Walls!
What could be better than a mistake-proofing device that increases sales by creating a niche in a commodity product category? Crayola is selling markers that don’t write except on special paper. No more blue, green, and red-fingered toddlers. No more ruined clothing. Nice mistake-proofing. Masterful marketing. GE essentially gives jet engines away in order to get 20…
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What Day Does This Need to be Returned?
Blockbuster has figured out that helping customers get their videos back on time is good for business. This is another example that does not mistake-proof the process but does help customers get it right. If every process we interacted with did as well, the number of mistakes we made would be dramatically reduced.
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Shaved Ice, Not Shaved Fingers
Rival sells a shaved ice machine that spins the ice around, pushing the ice over a blade that shaves it into snow cone “snow.” Rival is very interested in NOT shaving any fingers. They have designed the “on” switch into the lid. You press on the lid to activate the machine. When you stop pressing…
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Notifying Management About a Dirty Bathroom
This clever idea is not a mistake-proofing device in the purest sense. However, rapid feedback is a guiding principle in mistake-proofing and this switch in a discount store restroom seems to fully exemplify that idea.
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UK Electrical Plug Protections
British 240v/50Hz electricity can injure people, so electrical plugs are designed so that live electrical pins are never exposed. 1. the pins’ position and orientation are such that the plug can only fit one way in the socket 2. the pins are insulated near the plug body so that electric shock is not possible via…