Talk:Training Within Industry

Interesting how this page does get linked to from Kaizen or TPS? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.240.188.231 (talk) 07:40, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

TWI did not disappear after the war.

 * I would like to add this information, along with future edits pending the communities consensus*** —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.57.41.39 (talk) 00:56, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

This posting is dated 3/13/08, by Bryan Lund. I just spent some time reviewing the TWI, Inc. materials located in the Western Reserve Historical Society Library in Cleveland, OH. TWI, Inc. carried on the programs used in WWII by the TWI Service, commissioned by the WMC. TWI, Inc. was headed up by Lowell Mellen, a District Representative of TWI Office District #10 Northern Ohio. TWI, Inc. existed for 20 years before it was sold to Robert Murphy in 1964.

TWI, Inc. won the first contract to train Japanese in JIT through the ESS a section of the GHQ SCAP office - authorized by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. TWI, Inc. is directly responsible for the spread of the TWI program in Japan to 30 JIT trainers in 1951. Those 30 trainers spread the program through the famed multiplier effect to an estimated 4-6 million Japanese workers between the years of 1951 and 1956. TWI won a second contract through the U.S. and Japanese governments in 1956 to refresh institute trainers. During this period, TWI, Inc. devised a Problem Solving Training program for JITA the Japanese Industrial Training Association. A follow up letter in 1960 suggests that 9,000 supervisors in Japan had been trained in the subsequent four years after the installation.

In addition to installing TWI programs in Japan, Mellen's coworkers installed a similarly sized project in Indonesia. Mellen's group was also heavily involved with hosting Japanese, Greek and Chinese nationals in industrial study tours during the late 1950's.

Throughout all of this, TWI had not disappeared in the U.S. TWI, Inc. archives at WRHS yield hundreds of client files in the Ohio, Buffalo, Western Pennsylvania areas. In addition to the industrial market in the Ohio region, former directors of the WWII TWI Service had started the TWI Foundation in Summit, NJ. Dietz and Dooley's group offered the same services as Mellen's covering the industrial areas of the east coast and in foreign countries as well.

Source: Lowell Mellen Collection. #1991-098. Location: Western Reserve Historical Society Library, Cleveland, Ohio.

TWI after 1945
The TWI Foundation was established in Summit, NJ, just after TWI was disbanded by 5 key people of TWI - the original management. They continued strongly for several years, even holding 5 conferences for industry. This group worked with several hundred companies and many other groups in other nations. One of the groups that they supported was active as late as the early 1970's (New Zealand). Walter Dietz's collection of this company's artifacts is now housed in the National Archives. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.110.104.227 (talk) 22:12, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

On working with industry
The main article states that TWI only worked with industry by invitation. This is incorrect. The TWI program had a small manual that was distributed to their 23 districts on how to SELL the program to industry. After the program caught on and industries began to request assistance, the demand outstripped the resources of TWI (insufficiant number of certified master trainers), their services were distributed based upon the priority level of the particular plant. Towards the end of the war, because of reduced funding, only the most essential plants were supported. (source, records of the director of TWI - National Archives) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.110.104.227 (talk) 22:23, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

TWI in England In 1944 Frank Perkins was sent to the US to study the TWI program. He ended up staying five months and getting certified in all of the TWI programs as well as actually having the opportunity to train in the US before returning to England. He wrote a report for his boss describing the experience and his impressions of the program. There are two copies in the British Public Records Archives. The British spread the TWI programs to many different countries and were still used into the 1970's. However, the JM program was an early casuality to outside interests who reformatted the program dramatically. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.110.104.227 (talk) 20:41, 9 May 2009 (UTC)