Patrick Graupp began his training career at the Sanyo Electric Corporate Training Center in Japan after graduating with highest honors from Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1980. There he learned to deliver Training Within Industry (TWI) from his mentor Kazuhiko Shibuya. Mr. Shibuya was trained by Kenji Ogawa, who was trained by the four TWI, Inc. trainers sent from the United States to help Japan rebuild industry in 1951. Patrick earned an MBA from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, while leading Sanyo's global training effort. He was later promoted to the head of human resources for Sanyo North America Corp. in San Diego, California, where he settled.

Patrick 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 rapidly expanding global network of more than 1000 certified trainers who are now delivering TWI training in the manufacturing, health care, construction, energy, and service industries in the United States and around the globe. The first edition of their book The TWI Workbook: Essential Skills for Supervisors was a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Prize Recipient for 2007.Robert J. Wrona began his manufacturing career at Chevrolet in Buffalo, New York, where he was promoted to shop floor supervisor after earning a BS from Canisius College, Buffalo, New York. He moved on to Kodak in Rochester, New York, where he became interested in organizational development while earning his MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Bob joined a high-volume retail drugstore chain in Syracuse, New York, when it was a 12-store operation. He standardized store operating procedures, developed internal training, and reorganized central distribution as the company profitably grew into a regional chain of 140 in 11 years.