I'm also an engineer building industrial automation systems. And I've sold dozens with poka yokes, done kaizen reviews (improvements), and used scanners/plant-m

I'm also an engineer building industrial automation systems. And I've sold dozens with poka yokes, done kaizen reviews (improvements), and used scanners/plant-machine communication for kanban (JIT/lean manufacturing). I think the important thing to note here is not that when you use the Japanese word, it becomes a process, a tool, a requirement you can mandate and sell - not just common sense. If you just call it idiot-proofing, people too often reject additional cost, process time, and complexity. If that sensor and part test are there because those are the poka yokes so you can't load it backwards, people don't push back as much.