Individual Involvement and Intervention in Quality Improvement Programmes: Using the Andon System

Individual involvement and intervention are recognised as genuine concepts of a quality improvement programme and are critical to its success. The Andon system, which is an element of TQC, is being used by a growing number of organisations for highlighting trouble areas within the production system. This article analyses the use of the Andon system in Western organisations and explores the issues concerning its usage for management and employees. The various types and mechanisms of the Andon system are discussed and examples of its usage are presented from three different sectors of the Australian manufacturing industry.