"Why Standard Work is Not Standard: Training Within Industry Provides an Answer"
Target
Fourth Issue 2006, pp. 7-13 (available online at www.ame.org)
Training Within Industry (TWI) had its first heyday in the US during World War II, when it was crucial to quickly train inexperienced employees in skilled industrial jobs. Training was delivered in standard and repeatable form as a train-the-trainer program. There are three "J-Programs":
- Job Instruction (JI)—This program trained instructors how to make work easy to understand. The instructor prepares the operator to learn, demonstrates the steps and key points of the job, observes trial runs, and then tapers off coaching while continuing to follow up.
- Job Methods (JM)—Job Methods taught supervisors how to break down jobs into their constituent operations, questioning details and developing new methods by eliminating, combining, rearranging, and simplifying these details.
- Job Relations (JR)—The basic principles of this program included providing constructive feedback, giving credit when due, telling people in advance about changes that will affect them, making the best use of each person's ability, and earning the employee's loyalty and cooperation.
After the War, TWI faded in the US, but was introduced into Japan along with quality methods. Toyota realized that the TWI programs stabilized and standardized work, thereby greatly aiding process improvement efforts. TWI became part of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.
TWI has been an overlooked element of Toyota's success. In North America, a handful of companies are now re-pioneering TWI. One of the first was ESCO Turbine Technologies in Chittenango, New York. Some of the results they attribute to TWI are a 76% drop in re-work, a 96% drop in assembly defects, and a 75% drop in training time.
Back to top of page
