Why Standard Work is not Standard: Training Within Industry Provides an Answer

Jim Huntzinger, Target Magazine, Volume 22, Number 4, Fourth Quarter 2006

“You can do TWI without Lean, but you can’t do Lean without TWI.” – Jim Huntzinger

Lean working cultures everywhere stagnate because we don’t like doing standard work, so we fail to hold the gains from process Kaizen. TWI helps people bypass their emotional reluctance to conform to a standard way of doing things — Standard Work. TWI is a practice and a philosophy that moves people and organizations forward by a “learn by doing” approach and attitude, which allows them to establish standards, sustain improvements made and then springboard to an ever-higher level of practice.

• Training Within Industries: The TWI J-Programs
• How TWI Fits into the Toyota Production System
• TWI and Leadership
• The Rebirth of TWI Today