Job Instruction at VMI

Machine builder VMI has its head office in Epe, where about 900 people are employed. The innovative machines are continuously developed and further expanded.

Problem

VMI works with a proportion of flexible employees in its production departments, among other things in order to be able to efficiently handle the volume fluctuation in workload. These employees are skilled employees, but there is a need for a uniform working method for the tasks and products VMI produces. This is in order to improve quality and secure knowledge.
For the training of new and temporary employees, they are linked for a certain period of time to an experienced employee who is learning the knowledge and skills. Because these experienced employees do not all use the same (standard) working methods, and because they do not all use the same training method, this training results in variation in quality and productivity. This variation in quality too often results in repair work during later project phases, which can lead to unpredictable increases in lead time and project costs.

Implementation

At VMI a first group of TWI instructors was trained in 2016.
After the first Job Instruction training VMI started with implementation on the shop floor, first in a pilot environment and then in all assembly departments. To this end, the foremen were also briefly trained in their role regarding knowledge development of employees, so that they know what is expected of them.
Training (temporary) employees in the tasks they have to perform is increasingly becoming a routine that is managed weekly by foremen. To this end, a central board has been set up on which all training courses are visualised, both planned and carried out. Foremen are present at this board every 2 weeks to agree on changes in the training plan.

On the one hand because some trainers are no longer available due to natural flow, and on the other hand because the need for thorough training of agreed standards is growing, VMI decides to train a second group of TWI instructors in the warehouse and in assembly in 2017.

The size of the organisation and the need to use Job Instruction broadly within the organisation leads to the plan to have in-house certified TWI trainers.
A certified TWI trainer for Job Instruction can provide the JI training himself, which trains a maximum of 10 participants to become a TWI instructor. An additional reason for training internally certified TWI-trainers is the permanent availability of good knowledge to help instructors standardize and train tasks on a daily basis.

Two VMI instructors are trained as internal TWI Trainers in order to be able to roll out Job Instruction within VMI on a broad scale.

Results

- For most standard tasks, a training has been developed for which material, tools and task analysis are available.
- Every week both new and permanent employees are trained
- Number of errors in assembly drastically reduced, internal capacity increased.
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Furthermore

With the observation that mistakes are also caused in Engineering, which also leads to unnecessarily high costs, we took up the challenge to test Job Instruction in Engineering, both at WTB and Electrof. At this moment VMI is working to further implement Job Instruction in Engineering.