TWI – A “Lost” Approach to Building Supervisory Skills

In 1940, it became apparent that the demand for military equipment would be greater than anything we had ever experienced as a nation. To meet the demands of our defense, a completely new approach to training and the use of people in industry was established, called the Training Within Industry Service. As a result of TWI, in combination with lean production, productivity skyrocketed, especially in aircraft and shipbuilding. However, as orders began to decline in 1944, TWI was quickly forgotten and “lost” for more than 60 years.

Today some of those basic methodologies are being rediscovered, helping US businesses build supervisory skills, workplace stability and improve competitive positions.

TWI has three specific job training components for production supervisors -- job instruction, job methods, and job relations. Each component is a ten-hour course that teaches practical supervision skills.

Job Instruction (JI) teaches supervisors how to plan for the correct resources they would need in production, how to break down jobs for instruction, and how to teach people safely, correctly, and conscientiously.

Job Methods (JM) teaches supervisors how to analyze jobs and make simple improvements within their realms of control. Every activity is considered for improvement. Supervisors learn to question why an activity is done this way, and if it could be eliminated, combined with something else, rearranged, or simplified.

Job Relations (JR) teaches supervisors to treat people as individuals and solve basic human-related problems in production rather than to ignore them.

Taken together, these three courses help supervisors create a basic routine, discipline, and sense of fairness in work teams.

Meet your Instructor

Lloyd Johnson is a graduate of Syracuse University where he earned a B.S.E.E. and an MBA. Lloyd has over 30 years of experience in manufacturing, quality and program management. Lloyd is a Professional Business Advisor (PBA), a certified Project Management Professional certified by the Project Management Institute, and is certified to teach Training Within Industry (TWI).

AM&T would be pleased to assist other companies with discovering this “lost” approach. For more information about AM&T’s TWI programs or to schedule an initial meeting to discuss the potential benefits to your organization, contact Jim Cunningham at 607-725-1225 or jcunningham@amt-mep.org

See this and other newsletter articles at http://amt-mep.org/files/7613/9955/0659/2014-05.pdf

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