Example 3: A small assembler provides wiring harness assemblies for a particular automotive electronic controller. There are several part numbers and many of the parts for each part number look very much alike. So it isn’t surprising that the company has received complaints from the automotive assembly plants that some harnesses have incorrect components (which have to be changed out on the assembly line causing delays). Their solution is to color code the different part numbers (green for one part number and yellow for the other – see the illustration below) and to make sure that only the containers with the appropriate part number make it to the work stations. The color coding is vintage poka-yoke and successfully prevented incorrect components from being assembled into the wiring harnesses. See the illustration below.
