Fundamentals of the TWI Program / by Charles Mabra

What are the fundamentals of the long-standing, successful TWI Program? What are the most important things that make TWI the key to developing and carrying out standardized work? Companies such as Toyota use TWI's services because the historically proven methods work yet why do they work? What are the fundamentals behind this successful training program and solutions?

Here are some fundamentals of the TWI Program that withstand the test of time and can be applied to all businesses in any industry:

  • Decide which responsibilities and jobs belong to which employees
  • Set goals 
  • Encourage communication skills
  • Make sure the basic skills are in place for employees to carry out jobs
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These are the top four fundamentals that make businesses grow and succeed when implementing TWI Training Solutions. Toyota refers to this list as "The Four Rules" and consider them the "DNA" of the company's production. To this day, the famous auto makers still implement TWI. 

Training Within Industries' three main services: Job Instruction, Job Relations, and Job Methods Improvement come from the "Five Needs Model for Good Supervisors" that was developed during World War II. This defined the main things that must be fulfilled before any boss or manager can accomplish their responsibilities and job successfully. The Five Needs are:

  • Knowledge of Work
  • Knowledge of Responsibilities
  • Skill in Instructing
  • Skill in Improving Methods
  • Skill in Leading 

The first two needs deal with knowledge and the last three focus on skill. Gaining knowledge must be joined with gaining skill, which is only acquired through practice. The Five Needs were experimented and tested in real industries during production while the war was happening. Because they were actually put in place during a very rough time, the "practicing" was actually real life DOING. The skills were put in place through action and have proven decade after decade and so by using the Training Within Industry methods, supervisors and managers can effectively and consistently teach the three J's. Be sure to contact us to learn more and to get your FREE consultation.