Learning

Job Instruction

Job Instruction is the Training Within Industry method for teaching a person to do a job correctly, safely, and conscientiously. A practical, in-depth guide.

By Art Smalley

Contents · 7 sections 01

Introduction to Job Instruction

What Job Instruction is, where it came from, the cost of poor instruction, and why the need to teach is continual.

Figures: Poor instruction and its effect on Quality, Cost, Delivery & Safety

~7 min 02

Basic Concepts: Why the Usual Ways of Teaching Fall Short

The five needs of a good supervisor, the four common teaching methods, and why each one alone is unreliable — shown through the Fire Underwriter's Knot.

Figures: Five needs → three J programs · Four teaching methods · The knot demonstration

~9 min 03

The Four-Step Method

Prepare, Present, Try out, Follow up — the heart of Job Instruction, the four try-out checkpoints, the Job Instruction card, and why the order cannot be shuffled.

Figures: The Job Instruction card · The four try-out checkpoints

~13 min 04

The Job Breakdown Sheet

Important Steps, Key Points, and Reasons — how to analyze a job before teaching it, and how to recognize the points that make or break the work.

Figures: Blank Job Breakdown Sheet · The Fire Underwriter's Knot breakdown · Key-point categories

~12 min 05

Planning & the Training Matrix

Deciding who needs to be able to do which jobs, and by when, using the Job Instruction Planning Timetable and a four-level skill matrix.

Figures: The training matrix with the four-level skill scale

~11 min 06

Special Situations & Considerations

Adapting the four-step method to longer jobs, to the knacks and feel that are hard to put into words, and to teaching in a noisy environment.

Figures: Dividing a long job into lessons · Teaching a knack · Instructing in noise

~10 min 07

Summary: Putting It to Work

A recap of the whole method, how to start on a real job, and where Job Relations, Job Methods, and the TWI program fit alongside it.

Figures: The whole Job Instruction method on one page

~8 min

More on Job Instruction (TWI-JI) at Art of Lean

DefinitionJob Instruction (TWI-JI) — TPS Encyclopedia
ArticleStandardized Work and Job Instruction: The Document Does Not Teach the Job

Sources

TWI Job Instruction manual and cards — Training Within Industry Service, 1940s
Isao Kato, retired Toyota manager — TWI and kaizen training courses and course materials
Toyota Job Instruction adaptations (internal training materials)