Building a Global Learning Organization: Using TWI to Succeed with Strategic Workforce Expansion in the LEGO Group

• Outlines the actual organizational and planning models used by the LEGO Group to build a true Global Learning Organization
• Supplies clear descriptions of how and why TWI was used as the foundational tool for success in achieving Standard Work across diverse language and cultural platforms
• Presents insight into the core work of culture change—working with people to create motivation at the ground level for moving to a new system of learning
• Provides step-by-step guidance on how to create a solid organizational foundation for a Learning Organization
• Includes case studies that describe in detail how to achieve a successful rollout

Building a Global Learning Organization: Using TWI to Succeed with Strategic Workforce Expansion in the LEGO Group describes how a multinational company developed a global structure for learning based on the TWI (Training Within Industry) program to create and sustain standardized work across multiple language and cultural platforms. In this book, Shingo Prize-winning author Patrick Graupp collaborates with two practitioners who performed the planning and implementation of the LEGO Group’s worldwide Learning Organization.

The book outlines the organizational and planning models used by the LEGO Group to create the internal ability to give and receive tacit skills and knowledge. Describing how and why TWI is used as the foundation for success in knowledge transfer across diverse languages and cultures, it provides step-by-step guidance on how to establish a solid organizational foundation for your own Learning Organization.

Providing expert insight into the work of culture change, the book explains how to work with people to create motivation for moving to a new system of learning. It details the critical elements that made the implementation at the LEGO Group a success, identifies the stumbling blocks they encountered along the way, and explains how they were overcome. Case studies describe in detail what these efforts looked and felt like in actual application.

The TWI program has long been recognized for its ability to generate results. After reading this book, you will gain valuable insight into how your organization—whether large or small, national or international—can integrate this timeless tool into your operating structure and your daily culture.

About the Authors

University in 1980. There he learned to deliver Training Within Industry (TWI) and other training programs for SANYO employees inside and outside of Japan. He was transferred to a compact disc manufacturing facility in Indiana where he gained manufacturing experience before returning to Japan to lead SANYO’s global training effort. During this time, Graupp earned an MBA from Boston University and was later promoted to head up human resources for SANYO North America Corp. in San Diego, California where he settled. Graupp partnered with Bob Wrona in 2001 to conduct TWI pilot projects in Syracuse, New York that became the foundation for the TWI Institute which has since trained a vast network of certified trainers who are now delivering TWI training in the manufacturing, health care, construction, energy, and service industries around the globe. These efforts are outlined in their book The TWI Workbook: Essential Skills for Supervisors (Productivity Press, 2006) a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize Recipient for 2007. Graupp also authored Implementing TWI: Creating and Managing a Skills-Based Culture published by Productivity Press in 2010, and Getting to Standard Work in Health Care: Using TWI to Create a Foundation for Quality Care published by Productivity Press in 2012.

Gitte Jakobsen has been involved in organizational development and knowledge management in the LEGO Group since 1997 with roles as both staff manager and project manager in the LEGO marketing arena and later within LEGO Operations. She has extensive experience in the development of complex marketing and production processes based on her experience setting up a LEGO marketing development and production function in the Czech Republic and her activities creating Learning Centers in LEGO production sites in Denmark, Mexico, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

In 2009, Jakobsen completed a master’s degree in educational psychology at the University of Aarhus and has since been working as a learning specialist in her position as HR senior manager in the LEGO Learning Center, providing both deep practical and theoretical perspectives. Her core responsibilities lie in leading global activities while building up training organizations and knowledge management activities across LEGO production and engineering functions including a new LEGO factory in China. Additionally, she is developing global LEGO programs like World Class Craftsmanship, with the objective of building up LEGO toolmakers, and Technology Leaders of Tomorrow, both initiatives focused on developing standardized capabilities across cultures and LEGO sites.

John Vellema started his career as a toolmaker in injection molding. This deeply rooted experience working with and understanding life on the shop floor provided him with invaluable experiences that cannot be learned in a classroom. He also served in the Danish Army where his last position was first class sergeant for a recon unit stationed in Kosovo. After leaving the Army, Vellema earned an engineering degree in manufacturing and management from the University of Southern Denmark. He then joined the LEGO Group in 2007 participating in the Supply Chain Graduate Program. In combination with years of coaching teams under the Danish Association of Rowing, this positioned him to become project leader and concept developer over the next three years, beginning in 2009, in the development and implementation of the Global Job Training Organization at LEGO. Through these experiences he has gained a strong understanding of the link between production, leadership, and engineering.

In 2012, John left the LEGO Group to start an advisory and training firm, business through people. The firm’s primary objective is to help companies create and maintain a highly skilled and motivated workforce. Business through people has since become a recognized company supporting businesses and corporations across Europe.