Error Proofing Swedish Style

I was at IKEA the other week and saw the best error proofing for cart safety.  If you haven’t been to an IKEA store, it is massive.  The parking for our store is ground level and the store is on the second and third levels.  Elevators are used to help get the carts down to the ground level as well as an escalator.  The shopping carts have suction cups on the wheels that engage as you get on the flat escalator.

For safety reasons, IKEA does not want customers to take the flatbed carts down the escalator.  Products could slide off and cause an accident.  In line with the traditional mindset, there are signs posted showing a normal shopping cart is OK to take down the escalator and the flatbeds are not.

In a lean error proofing mindset, IKEA made it impossible to take the flatbeds down the escalator.

There are two poles that are four foot high as you enter the escalator.  The normal shopping cart fits through the poles with a couple of inches to spare.  The flatbed cart is made to be angled out wider so it can’t fit.  The poles are also positioned so neither cart can enter from the side.

It was a great system that a lean person can truly appreciate.

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