By the end of World War II, about 1.75 million workers had received certification in Training Within Industry (TWI), a method that gave vital skills to front-line supervisors. Originally created to provide quick training to civilians who would then fill the jobs vacated by soldiers in the private sector, TWI has evolved into both a practice and philosophy that moves people and organizations forward by a "learn by doing" approach.

As the second in a new series that highlights the views of industry experts, IMT recently picked the brain of Robert J. Wrona, executive director of the TWI Institute, to determine the future of the training method that was all but abandoned after WWII.

IMT: TWI was developed out of a crisis to quickly train civilians for jobs left vacated by soldiers during World War II. While Toyota Motor Co. still uses critical aspects of it in lean and its Toyota Production System (TPS), TWI largely faded from practice among U.S. manufacturers. Why did it dwindle stateside?

RW: It dwindled for a few different reasons: 1) American industry viewed TWI as being a war program; 2) U.S. infrastructure was one of the few undamaged in the world, so the focus of industry quickly shifted from the production of war goods to producing consumer goods for a global market; 3) The composition of the workforce changed dramatically as millions of people unfamiliar with TWI returned to their jobs after leaving the military; and 4) TWI provided grassroots attention to how people were treated and how work was performed, which made management uncomfortable at that time in history.


IMT: The TWI methodology aims to deliver a better-skilled workforce and improved labor and management relations, while maintaining a focus on continuous improvement. Today seems like the perfect time for those qualities in the workforce. Have you noticed a resurgence of interest in the training program in the past few years?

RW: There has definitely been a resurgence of interest in TWI globally over the past few years. The initial interest in TWI was in the area of training when we reintroduced the program in 2001. Companies at their initial stages of becoming lean were learning that people were unable to transfer the knowledge taught in classrooms to their job in the workplace. Meanwhile, on-the-job training was conducted by assigning people to one of their best operators. This created variation in their lean processes that led management to search for a better, repeatable and verifiable method of training employees.

Many found what they needed in the TWI Job Instruction Training (JI). It was not until TWI was identified as Toyota Motor Co.'s best-kept secret under the heading of "TPS Training" that the TWI link to lean was firmly established.

The resurgence of interest in TWI escalated around 2005 with the publication of books and articles publicizing Toyota's best-kept secret. Art Smalley summarized the TWI connection in his article Basic Stability: "Taken together, these three courses (JI, JR, JM) helped supervisors create a basic routine, discipline, and sense of fairness in work teams. Fifty years later, these same TWI course and fundamentals tenants constitute the basis for training supervisors and work teams in Toyota."

Companies that were struggling with lean soon recognized the need for JI as a foundation for standard work that ignited their interest in the TWI Program.


IMT: Obviously, technology has changed significantly since TWI's "glory days," but most manufacturers still have many of the same problems and goals. Can any of the primary skill-based training programs ("J" programs) have a major effect on manufacturers' processes if carried out today?

RW: All three of the "J" programs — Job Relations (JR), Job Instruction (JI) and Job Methods (JM) — are currently having a positive effect on manufacturers' from the glory days who are making an effort to change their ways.

One of these is ESCO Turbine Technologies-Syracuse, which implemented JI in 2002 to identify and document best practices to standardize work, and then retrain their people throughout the plant beginning with the wax mold assembly operation. JI was selected because the methodology requires breaking down each job into "Important Steps" and "Key Points" in the form of a "Job Breakdown Sheet," which was then used to retrain people on how to perform each job the current best way. The JI program was credited by management for its contribution to this plant becoming the first and only recipient to date of the prestigious Platinum Supplier Award from the Dallas, Texas-based Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division, in June 2005.

JI is having a significant effect on productivity today, as are JR and JM.


IMT: What do you expect for the future of TWI in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world? Do you foresee it expanding its role in various sectors? What key factors would drive such growth?

RW: There is a very bright future for TWI in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. The only question is when the breakthrough will occur.

U.S. manufacturers need to compete less on cost than on productivity, flexibility, quality and responsiveness to customer needs to stay in business. Most companies have adopted a lean strategy so the field is somewhat leveled in most industries now that lean has become the price of entry. Companies must now learn to tap the potential of their people to distinguish themselves from the pack, and this is where TWI is making a difference as it does at Toyota.

However, as with lean, active top-management support is essential for a well-executed TWI program. Unfortunately, we only see a few isolated instances of top management support in the companies that we have worked with across the globe. In addition to reintroducing TWI in the U.S., the TWI Institute has introduced TWI in Canada, Mexico, South America, New Zealand and in several countries in Western and Eastern Europe. TWI materials have been translated into Spanish, Polish, French and German to help spread TWI in these countries.

Such growth appears to be driven by a global shortage of skilled people and the recognized need for standard work as the foundation for continuous improvement. According to the 2005 Skills Gap Report, a survey of 8,000 NAM members conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Manufacturing Institute's Center for Workforce Success and Deloitte Consulting LLC, there is a critical shortage — in both breadth and depth — of skilled workers that is projected to hinder the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete in a global economy. Our shrinking workforce is already affecting manufacturing, health care, energy and the public sector, where efforts are already being made to do more with less in order to overcome the shortage of qualified people. This shortage is rapidly becoming a global problem, as is keeping people plugged into their jobs.

As pointed out in this survey, one thing worse for employers being short of skilled people is to have employees who would rather not be working for a company but who don't make an effort to leave. As the competition increases for a shrinking number of skilled people, organizations must also rethink the ways they manage, train and treat their key people. These issues will drive the growth of TWI and expand its role in various sectors globally.

Robert "Bob" Wrona, executive director of the TWI Institute, worked in manufacturing for General Motors Co. and Eastman Kodak before becoming VP of Organizational Development of a retail drug store chain, where he learned Just-in-Time (JIT) concepts. Moving on to a career as a Total Quality Management (TQM) consultant, he became a student of Kaizen and the Toyota Production System (TPS). In 2001, Bob and Patrick Graupp, Senior Master Trainer at the TWI Institute, reintroduced TWI as presented in The TWI Workbook: Essential Skills for Supervisors a 2007 Shingo Prize Recipient. Bob and Patrick deliver an introductory TWI workshop at the annual TWI Summit.