In the Toyota Production System, “automation with a human touch” is called jidoka.
Jidoka is one of the two central pillars of the Toyota Production System, alongside just-in-time production. It means building quality into the process by detecting an abnormality, stopping the machine or line, and correcting the problem before defective work continues downstream. Human workers are empowered to intervene rather than allowing production to carry on unchecked.
The idea grew from Sakichi Toyoda’s automatic loom, which could stop when a thread broke. Toyota adapted that principle to automobile manufacturing, combining machine-based detection with human judgment and problem-solving. The approach is also called autonomation, or intelligent automation.
Jidoka is often confused with poka-yoke, which means mistake-proofing, andon, a visual or audible signal used to call attention to a problem, or kaizen, continuous improvement. Those tools support the system, but jidoka is the quality principle of stopping when trouble appears.