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The Toyota Lanka Skill Contest 2014 was held at the Toyota Lanka head office premises in Wattala recently, under the theme ‘Empowering the People Element’. Toyota Lanka Managing Director Shungo Yoshioka, Chief Operating Officer Manohara Athukorala, senior management, employees, customers and delegates from leading automobile institutes were present to witness the event.
Commenting on this year’s contest, Toyota Lanka General Manager – Services Mathisha Samaranayaka said: “The main objective of the skill contest is to reward and sharpen the skills and competencies of Toyota Lanka’s employees in line with Toyota’s global standards. It is a testament of Toyota Lanka’s commitment to provide its customers with an unparallel service.”
The contest was organised under six main categories namely, General Service, Service Advisor, Body, Paint, Spare Parts Counter Operation and Spare Parts Warehouse Operation. The top five contestants of each category, who were selected through preliminary rounds, competed in the finals.
Winners from each category will get the chance to participate in the Skill Contest Awards Ceremony in Japan, which is organised by Toyota Motor Corporation. The final contestants were evaluated by a panel of internal and external judges who possess vast industry expertise in their respective categories.
The Skill Contest organised by Toyota Lanka is the only skill contest of this stature, conforming to international standards and processes among Toyota service providers in Sri Lanka. The success of initiatives of this nature is truly reflected through the Customer Service Excellence Gold Award which was awarded to Toyota Lanka (Private) Limited by Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan in year’s 2012 and 2013 for its unparalleled service excellence in the region.
The contest categories
The General Service category focused on Toyota global service philosophy ‘Fix it right the first time’ which talks about a culture in global service operations where technicians correctly diagnose the mechanical issues the very first time and provide a long lasting solution to the customer.
Based on that, a number of scenarios were created to evaluate the technician’s precise diagnostic abilities, speed, accuracy, following correct repair procedures according to TMC standards, etc. The contest emphasised on electrical diagnosis, common rail direct injection technology, hybrid and high-tech repairs and vehicle inspection.
In the Service Advisor category, contestants were evaluated on several aspects such as the job reception process, job production process and the job delivery process. They were also evaluated on their soft skills such as telephone skills, customer complaints handling, information offering etc. This category was also based on TMC’s global customer care guidelines.
The Body and Paint category focused on the restoration of a vehicle to its original condition and colour, matching its original body texture, confirming 100% accuracy and precision. Based on that, panel repair, welding, body dimension measuring and surface preparation tests were carried out. Contestants were evaluated on speed, accuracy, selection of precise tools and following correct repair procedures according to TMC standards.
The finalists’ knowledge of the Toyota Electronic Parts Catalogue, selection of correct parts and binning operations were assessed in the Spare Parts Warehouse Operation category. Further, the Spare Parts Counter Operation category evaluated the skills of obtaining correct customer information according to Standard operation procedures, proper usage of Toyota Electronic Parts Catalogue and data management systems, customer focus and also cross selling.
