TPS & Jidoka, interview of Tomo “Tom” Harada by Art Smalley:
There are two different parts to Jidoka. The first meaning is to separate man from machine. It was normal in the original parent company for a single young woman to operate many machines since they were automated.
So when Mr. Ohno came to the automotive company after WWII and saw one man operating one machine tool he thought that it was strange and inefficient. He embarked upon a path of breaking down the notion of one man one machine in the engine shops. Instead of “monitoring” machines the operator was to walk between two machine tools and keep them both up and running. Then three machines and four machines and so on.
Related: TPS v. Lean Manufacturing – Origins of the Toyota Production System – Jidoka description – blog posts on the Toyota Production System
