Oct. 23, 1981

TOYOTA'S TOP TRAINING PROGRAM

Technical Training Programs for Toyota Personnel Around the Globe

 

Wherever Toyotas are sold―Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Europe, North America, Latin America―skilled Toyota mechanics are there and ready to care for them. And the Total Quality Control system that works so well in Japan is equally effective throughout Toyota's worldwide network, thanks to a multi-lingual, multi-faceted program that provides comprehensive training for Toyota personnel all over the globe. Some 640 mechanics from 95 countries have participated in Toyota's training program in Japan, and they are only a fraction of the great number of overseas personnel that have been involved in the same kind of program in other countries. This press release explains the history, scope and nature of this training network and explains how Toyota has pushed Total Quality Control to new peaks worldwide.

  1. The BeginningToyota's Training Program in Japan
    Toyota launched its first full-fledged technological education and training program in 1965 to enhance the skills of its distributors' senior mechanics and foreman-level personnel. During the six-month program, which was held twice a year in the spring and autumn, the participants learned about the structure, operation, disassembly/inspection, assembly and servicing of all the varied parts and components of Toyota automobiles―from engines, drivetrains and steering systems to suspension and electrical systems.
    This program replaced the previous education system which had Toyota teaching staff, normally from Japan or locally stationed, visiting individual distributors to provide them with on-the-job troubleshooting and service training. The inefficiencies of this form of on-the-job training in terms of manpower and the amounts of time, educational materials and equipment involved were improved by the 1965 program, through collective training in Japan. The new program was aimed at training high-level mechanics who would be able to serve as instructors for their fellow workers in their home countries. By the end of 1976, a total of 289 trainees had participated in this program.
  2. Getting GoingFirst Steps Toward An International Approach
    In August 1977, Toyota expanded the range of courses available by adding the North-American and Advanced courses to the regular program and by setting up occasional courses as well. The result was a system with three types of courses
    • The new three-month general course provides distributors' key mechanics with training designed to improve their overall grasp of techniques and their servicing skills. Three general courses are held every year, with two taught in English and one in Spanish.
    • A one-month advanced course offers distributors' instructors, workshop managers and foremen the opportunity to learn more about complicated and completely new mechanisms. The ultimate goal of this course is to enable them to communicate what they've learned to workers in their home countries. The advanced course is held twice a year.
    • The North-American course is a two-week program for the chief instructors of U.S., Canadian and Hawaiian distributors. These chief instructors will pass along what they learn about new mechanisms and new models to their own staffs. This course is held once a year.
    Occasional courses are provided mainly when socialist countries buy Toyota vehicles. Contracts with these countries usually stipulate some training. The duration and number of trainees vary from case to case, but most such courses last for a month. Typically their content covers parts and components, with an emphasis on how to provide service for them. During the four-year period ending in July 1981, a total of 337 individuals had participated in these courses. Of this total, 232 from Toyota distributors participated in regular courses, while another 105 took part in specially contracted occasional courses.
    1. How Regular Courses Are Run
      Each course is limited to about 10 individuals. Every September, Toyota processes applications and selection is completed by the end of the year. Acceptance to the program is competitive, with the number of applicants usually double the number of places available. Since the applicants are carefully screened, and selection is based on experience, job level and examination results, people with similar backgrounds are brought together and high standards are maintained.
      The largest number of trainees come from Asia and Oceania (50%), followed by the Latin American countries (20%), Africa (15%), the Middle East (11%), and a small percentage from Europe and North America.
      During the training period, trainees take three examinations. The first evaluates the trainee's technical expertise. Trainees are tested midway and at the end of the course to measure progress and achievement. Each trainee's local distributor is given a copy of the results as an indication of his trainee's vocational aptitude.
    2. Top-Quality Instructors and Educational Philosophy
      The 18-member educational staff of the Fujioka Service Training Center includes 14 men and 4 women. Its members provide instruction in the following areas: planning and management (2), trainee reception (1), English language instruction (5), Spanish language instruction (1), traveling instructors (3), text and training equipment (1), and management and production of materials (1).
      Toyota has been self-sufficient in developing its educational programs and does not employ outside technical help or interpreters. At Toyota, we have found that employing interpreters doubles the time needed for a course, makes it hard to maintain continuity and, therefore, is not efficient. Toyota's instructors are all veterans with substantial overseas experience.
      It is important that Toyota instructors have a wide knowledge of all aspects of automotive servicing technology to be able to meet the varied needs and cope with the problems of trainees from different countries.
    3. Technological Training Program by Toyota Home Office Instructors
      The other major portion of the Toyota technical education and training program involves sending Toyota instructors abroad. This type of education and training began in 1978, and is often provided at a Toyota distributor's request. When a distributor establishes its own training unit, Toyota sends instructors to train the distributor's own instructors on how best to convey technical information and skills to the distributor's mechanics. When a distributor has already set up its own training unit, Toyota provides assistance whenever needed.
      Toyota has thus far dispatched instructors to Malaysia, Nigeria, Fiji, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Angola, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
      In addition, Toyota holds overseas technology seminars at three overseas training centers in Panama, Athens and Brussels. Instructors and key mechanics from Latin American distributors participate in the Panama seminars, those from Middle and Near Eastern countries participate in the Athens seminars, and European distributors' personnel in the Brussels seminars. These seminars deal with new engine mechanisms and specific problems related to local conditions.
      In recent years Toyota has also held a seminar in Fiji in March 1980―for distributors in the South Pacific area―and in the Ivory Coast in March of this year―for French-speaking distributors in Africa. Both seminars were successful, and will be repeated―in November in Fiji and annually in the Ivory Coast. Another seminar is scheduled to be held in Kuwait in February 1982.
      Special courses are arranged when new Toyota vehicles are introduced to an area for the first time. Courses of this type, which play an important part in new model promotion, were conducted in Singapore in 1979 and China in 1980.
      Toyota also conducts programs for trainees from developing countries in cooperation with the Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship as part of a technical assistance package. Toyota was the first company to join with AOTS in this effort and has been offering courses in the Philippines every year since 1978.
      There are, in addition, some special cases in which an automotive manufacturer is required, by sales contracts or governmental regulations (as in Hawaii), to provide instructors.
  3. Toyota Training Highly Regarded
    A member of Toyota's educational staff visited Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong from March 29 to April 16 to investigate how the Toyota training programs had influenced local operations. When he asked 20 graduates of the Toyota training program to comment about it, there was general agreement that the program was beneficial.
  4. The Rewards of Excellence
    Technical education and training does not have an immediate pay-off; in fact, it usually takes five to ten years to yield results. But Toyota continues to provide it, to ensure that the company's distributors offer a consistently high level of service and to help expand sales. In other words, these training programs benefit both Toyota and its local distributors.
    One potential problem with educational programs is that newly trained individuals might be hired away by other companies once they return to their native countries. But Toyota's annual surveys showed only a 12.6% attrition rate as of the end of 1980, supporting the conclusion that this problem is not serious one.
    Toyota is especially proud of trainees whose training has been a step on the path to successful careers to date, eight trainees who completed the Toyota course have been promoted to managerial positions in Toyota distributorships in one outstanding case, the president of the Toyota distributorship in Saudi Arabia is a graduate of one of the company's programs. Other success stories include trainees who achieved: service manager positions (33.1%), foreman-level positions (50%), and instructor status (12.6%), reaping the rewards of excellence cultivated by training whose keynote is quality.

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