Q 456. Training Within Industry (TWI) was one of the methods to provide skilled manpower at a war footing level during the 2nd World War. Explain the concept of TWI. Is this still relevant for modern day processes and organizations?

 

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Training Within Industry was a necessity during World War 2 from 1940 to 1945. The success of the war depended on the industry meeting the increased requirements during war. There was an increased need for trained and skilled manpower during the war when the manpower was required to fight the war and at the same time required to produce material. TWI provided a framework for improved methods of training and modern ways to meet the shortfall. During World war, about 1.6 Million workers were TWI trained in about 16,500 factories and plants. The program continued in Asia and Europe post the war to rebuild the countries. It is of note that Kaizen and the Toyota Production System was an offshoot of TWI.

TWI was developed by experts from the Private industries. It consisted of four training programs of ten hours each. Due to the urgency, it used various experimental models, many of which were discarded. The successful programs were put together to form the TWI. The introductory sessions were the “Appreciation Sessions” that were used to gain management support. For the need of additional trainers, TWI had the “Trian the Trainer” sessions and “Institute Conductor’s Manual” for the master trainers. It also had a “Staff Only” program for staff development. The trainers used the 5 Needs of the Supervisor viz., knowledge of work and responsibility, skill in instruction, improving methods, and leading.

The four training programs of ten hours are Job Instruction, Job Methods, Job Relations, and Program Development.

Job Instruction (JI). JI trained experienced staff to train inexperienced staff more quickly. It consisted of breaking down the task into well-defined steps, with the procedure and key points, demonstrating it to the students, and observing the students perform the task.  Hospitals, farms, and offices used a variation of the program.

Job Methods (JM). Workers evaluate their own jobs and look for areas of improvement. The course teaches job breakdown and reasoning skills to determine if there is a need to eliminate, combine, rearrange, or simplify the step.

Job Relations (JR).  This course teaches supervisors to treat the workers as individuals, hence human relationships on the job are emphasized.

Programme Development (PD). This course is for those responsible for the training function in order to assist those on the line to solve problems during production by training.

 References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training_Within_Industry

Training Within Industry (TWI) is a dynamic and proven method of hands-on learning, practice, training, coaching and certification which develops frontline supervisors, team leaders, and workers as the foundation of sustainable results in the workplace.

 

TWI was first introduced in 1940 by the United States Department of War during the World War II and operated within the War Manpower Commission until 1945. It was originally developed to meet the high demand for wartime materials from a smaller and less-experienced workforce. By the end of the War over 1.6 million workers were trained in over 16,500 different plants and received certification.

 

The program continued in Post-war Europe and Asia to enable reconstruction. Training within industry remains relevant even after more than 80 years because of its unique methodology which empowers the frontline. It is most notable for inspiring the concept of Kaizen in Japan and later became the foundation for the Toyota Production System.

TWI initially consisted of 4 basic training programs distilled from a large number of experimental methods tried and discarded due to the sheer intensity of the war situation. 

 

The Four Programs were:

·         Program Development (PD) – The meta course taught that those with responsibility of training to assist the line managers and supervisors in solving production problems through training.

 

·         Job Relations (JR) - The course taught supervisors to deal with workers effectively and fairly. It emphasized the lesson – People must be treated as Individuals.

 

·         Job Methods (JM) – The course taught workers to objectively evaluate the efficiency of their jobs and to systematically evaluate and suggest improvements. Though the work breakdown was also a part of the course the students were taught to critically analyse each step and see if there was reason enough to carry out the work in that way by asking a series of questions. They were encouraged to eliminate, combine rearrange or simplify and apply the new method by selling it to the “boss” and co-workers and obtain their approval based on safety, quality, quantity and cost, standardizing the new method and giving credit

 

·         Job Instruction (JI) – The course taught trainers to train inexperienced workers faster. Instructors were taught to break down jobs into closely defined steps and show the work procedures while explaining the key points and the reasons for the key points, then observe the trainee attempt under close coaching

 

In order to market their services TWI developed the Five Needs of the Supervisor – Skill in Leading, Skill in Instructing, Skill in Improving Methods, Knowledge of Work and Knowledge of Responsibility.  Each TWI Program was based on Charles Allen’s four point method of Preparation, Presentation, Application and Testing.

 

 TWI Benefits

·         Ability to quickly build skills, stability, safety and confidence in the workplace

·         Helps creating the essential foundation for standard work, continuous improvement, operational excellence and lean initiatives

·         Creates positive employee relations, resolves conflicts, increases cooperation and motivation.

·         Develops front line people as engine for sustainable results in the workplace.

 

Relevance for the Modern Industry

TWI and it’s impact and its relationship with Kaizen and TPS is something I’m reading for the first time though I’ve been into Six Sigma, Lean and Continuous Improvement from a long time. With my personal experience of establishing and running two new LED Lighting factories I can very much relate to this concept to the steps we undertook as a team to develop competence and transfer knowledge from one unit existing before I joined the company in 2015 (with 24 workers – one team one brand) to the other 2 larger units in 2016 at Bhiwandi  (33 workers – 2 teams, 2 brands) and 2017 in Ahmedabad (80 workers 1 team, 1 brand to 2022 - 130 workers – 5 teams & 3 brands, 2 product lines). Though we did not have a formally documented train the trainer program the transfer of knowledge was based on the below principles which were very much on the lines of TWI.

-          Respect for the individual, Worker, Supervisor or Staff

-          Empowerment of frontline supervisors including access to ERP and email

-          Training, handholding and Coaching through experience sharing

-          Empowering line supervisors to interview and select workers after skill test

-          Annual in-depth appraisal reviews for Supervisors and Staff

       -      Competence mapping and grading of all workers and increment basis their scores

-          Focus on retention, rewards and recognition, employee engagement and feedback

-          ISO 9001 QMS as a framework for organizing the entire working methodology, developing procedures, 

        processes, work-instructions and formats in Product Development, Purchase, Stores, Production, Quality,   

        Testing, Packing and Dispatch

-          Using ISO 9001 QMS framework to instill spirit of continuous improvement

 

In conclusion I could affirm that possibly our ramp-up time and initial error rates would have been significantly reduced if we had applied the TWI concepts. The TWI concepts lives on in various production systems and techniques that we still apply in day-to-day factory management albeit for more peaceful purposes.

Excellent answer from Vijay and hence his answer has been selected as the winner.

 

P.S. The roots of some of the most common terms in business excellence like Kaizen and Train the Trainer lies in the concept of Training Within Industry.