Training Within Industry Standard Work and

Job Instruction

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JI (Job Instruction) is a Cornerstone for Standard Work at TOYOTA

When Art Smalley asked Isao Kato, (father of standardized work and kaizen training courses at Toyota) about which of the TWI courses had the biggest impact (on Toyota) and why? Mr. Kato replied:

“The JI thinking is really critical and somewhat under-appreciated in TPS formulation. The capability to breakdown a job is fundamental in terms of helping create a standard for teaching others. It is much easier and smaller step than to create the three elements of Standardized Work (takt time, work sequence, and standard amounts of work-in-process) after JI is in place. Plus when you change takt time and move work around JI is the perfect vehicle to train people. For this reason I believe and I think that Mr. Ohno would agree that JI had by far the biggest impact on TPS formulation.”

In their book The Toyota Way Fieldbook Jeffrey Liker and David Meier tell us that the first step in creating a lean process in Toyota is to achieve process stability. They note a number of causes for instability in processes, two of which are the lack of standard work and the tremendous variation in the methods and time it takes from person to person and across shifts it takes to perform a given process. These are the same two problems ESCO Turbine Technologies-Syracuse identified in their strategic planning process that led them on a search for a training methodology that was repeatable and verifiable. Their search led them to the TWI Job Instruction program that they credit for meeting their strategic goals to reduce defects by 50% as a way to reduce inventory and increase the speed of flow to reduce lead time for the customer. It worked! See article.

For additional information on Standard Work and Job Instruction

Web sites: www.artoflean.com

Recommended Reading:

Books:

• The Toyota Way Fieldbook, Jeffrey K. Liker and David Meier
• Toyota Talent, Jeffrey K. Liker and David P. Meier
• Becoming Lean, edited by Jeffrey K. Liker

Articles:

• Basic Stability is Basic to Lean Manufacturing Success, Art Smalley
• Why Standard Work is not Standard: Training Within Industry Provides an Answer, Jim Huntzinger