TRAINING WITHIN INDUSTRY (TWI)- A CRITICAL METHODOLOGY FOR SKILLS TRAINING

Training Within Industry originated in the USA later got adapted and used widely by Japanese manufacturers. Many of its concepts later got absorbed into Lean Manufacturing. TWI is a fundamental basis for Work Standardisation.

Having its aim at improving productivity and employee engagement, TWI focusses on 4 main pillars to equip supervisors and trainers with, namely Job Method Improvement, Job Instruction, Job Relations & Job Safety. Put together it has proven to help supervisors and trainers improve work productivity by up to 30%, reduce training time by up to 35%, reduce human caused errors and scraps by up to 50% and most importantly improve employee engagement in the work place.

The Job Method Improvement pillar has a set of tools and techniques to simplify work processes within a very quick time using collaborative team methods. This is the root of the Japanese concept of Kaizen. It is the primary effort a supervisor/trainer employs in the workplace

Job Instruction is the pillar which provides an extremely effective framework for conducting skills training. It provides a step by step process of making training effective, fast and learner more engaged. It goes right into the details of what position the trainer and trainee has to stand during instruction, number of times to repeat, four steps to prepare trainee for learning etc.

The pillars of Job Relations and Job Safety provide the right approach and steps to be taken by a supervisor/trainer to ensure there is a good relationship maintained with the employee. It also looks into how the basic needs of an employee should become a priority to be provided and always does not fail to improve employee engagement in the workplace.

Having the experience of facilitating TWI sessions and workshops for the last 18 years had made me believe that it is a philosophy, methodology and skill-set not to be ignored by any supervisor/trainer wanting to improve productivity and employee engagement. It's a missing piece most Lean Manufacturing practitioners sadly ignore, yet it is a fundamental part of the Toyota Production Sysyem

On 23rd and 24th October 2019, I had the privilege once again to facilitate a TWI workshop. This time it was for a set of trainers in a wire harness manufacturing company with about 1,500 employees. The two days highly pragmatic sessions took the form of gamified learning, role-plays and practical Job Method and Job Instruction activities. Trainers learnt many new tools to enhance their ability to improve work processes and to improve training effectiveness.