Training Within Industry

One of the keys to lean success is to get every employee involved. Unfortunately, many improvement efforts are performed by lean teams that do not even include production-line workers. There can be an over-reliance on highly organized kaizens, when, in fact, individuals could initiate small-scale improvement activities on their own. Training within industry (TWI) can help supervisors develop the skills they need to train employees in the job, and teach employees a method that will empower them to look for and act on improvement opportunities.

TWI was developed in the U.S. during World War II, in response to urgent needs to increase production to unprecedented levels. After the war, the program was discontinued as U.S. companies, fueled by growing markets and minimal competition, directed their energies elsewhere. But TWI was exported to Japan, where it played a vital role in helping to rebuild the industrial base. The TWI program became, and continues to be, an integral part of the Toyota Production System. Catalyst Connection uses TWI’s proven “learning by doing” method to teach two courses with practical value for supervisors and team leaders in any industry: Job Instruction Training and Job Methods Training. Each course consists of five two-hour sessions for 10 to 12 supervisors or foremen.

Job Instruction Training (JIT) teaches supervisors proper workforce training techniques. The objective is to help supervisors develop a well-trained workforce that produces less scrap, rework, and rejects; sustains fewer accidents; and incurs less tool and equipment damage. JIT emphasizes preparing the operator to learn; demonstrating the job while identifying its important steps, key points, and reasons for key points; requiring the operator to perform a trial run; and tapering off coaching while continuing to follow up.  Using a real-world problem, the instructor describes the counterproductive ways in which such problems are usually handled. Later, the instructor explains how supervisors can deal with such problems more effectively using the TWI 4-step method.

Job Methods Training (JMT) teaches supervisors how to improve the way jobs are done. The aim is to help produce greater quantities of quality products in less time by making the best use of the available manpower, machines, and materials. We teach supervisors to break down jobs into individual operations; to question each operation (why? what? where? when? who? how?); to develop new methods by eliminating, combining, rearranging, or simplifying operations; and to apply the methods by “selling” them to supervisors and fellow workers.

Benefits

By adopting TWI techniques, your operation can:

• Improve employee productivity and quality
• Reduce scrap and rework
• Shorten learning cycles