The Roots of Lean, Training Within Industry: The Origin of Kaizen

Jim Huntzinger, Target Magazine, Volume 18, Number 2, Second Quarter 2002

TWI remains a model for training people in industry and may well be the ground zero of Lean Manufacturing and Kaizen.

Reviews the origins of the TWI programs and how they form the foundation of what came to be known as Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing. Japanese themselves contend that most of their post-war industrial development had no relationship with any uniqueness of Japanese culture. The methods most famously developed by Toyota are well-organized, well-trained common sense, some of which originated in the West, probably around a hundred years ago.

• How TWI Developed
• Origin of the TWI Methodology
• Importance of Training by Principles – The 4-Step Process
• The TWI Courses (“J-Programs”)
• TWI and Kaizen
• Job Methods – the Original Kaizen