Andon Cord
Updated 2026-07-31
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A mechanism from the Toyota Production System. Any worker on the line can pull a cord, or press an equivalent button, to halt production when a defect or abnormality appears. The halt is not a punishment but a signal: the team responds, the root cause is investigated, and production resumes only after the problem is addressed. The practice encodes the principle that the right to surface a problem outranks the pressure to keep output moving, and it is widely cited as an operational foundation of psychological safety.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Stop Authority: give any team member a way to pause work the moment a standard is breached. - Response Design: make the halt trigger help rather than blame. - Culture Test: watch how a junior member's stop signal is treated as the real measure.
Anchor fast decisions
Defects are cheapest to fix at the moment they appear and most expensive after they propagate. Giving the stop authority to the person closest to the work removes the delay created by escalation and by fear of blame. The visible interruption, whether a light or a halted line, converts a private hesitation into a public fact the organisation must answer. The short-term cost of a stop buys a large reduction in rework and in the incentive to hide problems.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andon_(manufacturingverified
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