By Robert Farago
February 25, 2008 - 2,077 views
OK, it's a love letter to Toyota, written by a local Mississippi paper pleased as punch that their audience are enjoying the economic uplift provided by a new, $1.3b Toyota factory. But The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal still offers a fascinating look at how ToMoCo gets the party started at a new production facility. "Numerous training sessions at other Toyota sites, including Georgetown, Ky., and San Antonio, are part of the regimen. TMMMS [Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi] employees will spend three weeks or so at one of those facilities, then return home for training at area community colleges for a few weeks. The schedule rotates for a few months until employees are ready to 'graduate.' Then the next batch of employees starts the process again. But the training doesn't stop… Toyota workers are cross-trained to do other jobs. The premise is simple - the more you know, the more you can do, the more valuable you are." Production at the new plant– just outside Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo– begins in late 2009 for the 2010 model year Highlander.
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February 25th, 2008 at 10:54 am
What, the line workers can’t just learn one job and do it for 30 years? Has GM taught them nothing?
February 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
From I read on other forums, GM line workers do not work just a single job. It would be interesting to know the background of these people and how the training investment Toyota is making compares to what GM, etc. put in to their new hires.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
UAW workers can do any job (within their classification) at any time. This is because all jobs are required to require no skill.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:13 am
In coal mining, we would call this cross-training. It seems to be popular at mines, but not so on assembly lines.
This is why the UAW is out-dated and why Toyota isn’t interested in unions. These days, most employers value their workers and don’t treat them disposably. Because Toyota invests more in their employees, they will expect more from them and they’ll get it. Union mentalities do not wish to any more than they must, so I imagine UAW isn’t all that interested in Toyota either.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:29 am
It’d be interesting to know the number of job classifications at assorted manufacturers’ assembly plants. Like Toyota, GM, NUMMI, Ford, Honda… I wonder what the range is?
February 25th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
In the UAW plants you bid on a job and a shift all according to seniority. If you bid on the job to install 3 bolts on the engine that is your job. You do that same job every day and are not required to do anything else.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
In the UAW plants you bid on a job and a shift all according to seniority. If you bid on the job to install 3 bolts on the engine that is your job. You do that same job every day and are not required to do anything else.
Where does this info come from? On the GMI forum, a guy who works in the Wentzville van plant told a much different story. Workers had to be trained on several jobs if not every job performed by their team, IIRC about a dozen jobs. I find it hard to believe it could be any other way today given noshows and turnover.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
This is an example of why Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and BMW will come to be seen as the new domestic auto industry. When the only autoplant for hundreds if not thousands of miles has one of those names on it and a supplier base is built around it, then it will be near impossible to paint Toyota as a “them” and GM as “Us” at least in the south.
February 25th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Amazing that it’s oh so easy to bolt a car together, yet people are lost when comes to trying to perform an oil change.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Where does this info come from? On the GMI forum, a guy who works in the Wentzville van plant told a much different story. Workers had to be trained on several jobs if not every job performed by their team, IIRC about a dozen jobs. I find it hard to believe it could be any other way today given noshows and turnover.
They are trying these new ideas. The local Ford contract has called for job rotation for years, and they just ignore it. It is not so uncommon for a plant to start late or not run 100% due to people not showing up to work on time.