TOYOTA NATIONAL SKILLS CONTEST

Those lads at Toyota sure know how to put on a party, but we doubt those dealership staff who entered in the 2006 Toyota National Skills Contest were in anything but a serious frame of mind when it came time to get down to business, especially considering the prizes on offer.

The contest can be considered a mini-Olympics for dealership staff, who must complete a series of practical and technical challenges to be crowned victor. Currently, the event is the largest and most prestigious of its kind in the Aussie motor industry.

As the press release read, “Toyota is particularly proud of the National Skills Contest as a means of encouraging and recognising excellence among its dealership staff.” Obviously, a lot of you guys out there are interested in getting into the auto industry, and we’re here to tell you that Toyota is offering the perfect opportunity.

This year it was Tom Ronan, from Cornes Toyota in Adelaide, who took out the title, displaying his knowledge of Toyota vehicles as he competed with fellow Toyota contestants from across the country.
"The tests they set are very relevant to the types of problems we might face on the workshop floor,” said Mr Ronan.

"The judges create faults in a vehicle, and it is our job to firstly find and diagnose the problem and then go about fixing it as correctly and as efficiently as we can."

As a result of winning the contest, Mr Ronan will fly to Toyota headquarters in Japan to be inducted into the company's International Assembly of Champions, which ain’t too shabby at all.
Tom Ronan worked for Cornes Toyota between 1989 and 1995 before returning in 1998, and says winning the National Skills Contest is the highlight of his professional career.

"I made the finals last year, and I thought I did better this time immediately afterwards,” he said.

Likewise, kart-racin’ Kirk Watkinson won the title of Toyota's Apprentice of the Year.
The Penrith Toyota apprentice displayed his skill and knowledge of Toyota vehicles as he and the other four Toyota finals contestants undertook five different practical and technical workstations.
Each workstation is designed to simulate real situations and problems that technicians face on a day-to-day basis.

"I was stunned when they read out my name. I had to put a tie on because I wasn't ready," he said.

"It was an awesome experience for me. It was another huge learning curve.

"After we finished the contest, the judges took us through the tests and showed us the correct way of doing everything.

"They took us through all of the technician's tests as well, so we learnt even more."

In addition to his title, Watkinson has won $4000 worth of Beta tools for his efforts.
The 21-year-old go-kart-racing enthusiast is a T3 apprentice – a program that allows school students to begin working in a dealership as an apprentice. So those of you out there about to leave school, pay attention…

Here are some facts about the program:

• The 2006 event is Toyota's 20th National Skills Contest – the ultimate test of practical and technical skills for Toyota staff
• National Skills Contest incorporates technicians, apprentices and service advisors
• Prizes include overseas trips and Panasonic entertainment systems
• There are over 1900 Toyota technicians across Australia
• Contestants have already beaten hundreds of competitors from within each Toyota region
• Toyota Australia's dealership technicians have completed almost 50,000 hours (48,786.5 hours to date to be exact) of specialised training in 2006 alone
• Over half of Toyota technicians have been with the company for more than 10 years – a statistic well above the industry standard
• On average, a Toyota technician has 9.15 years of experience working with Toyota vehicles
• Toyota technicians have a total of 17,504 years of combined experience in dealerships nationwide
• Toyota's training arm, Toyota Institute Australia (TIA), comprehensively trains technicians, including apprentices, workshop controllers and service technicians, on diagnostics, diesel engines, electronic systems, automatic transaxle/transmission and many other competencies
• TIA also trains technicians on all new-model Toyotas as they are released

All up, it sounds like a great event for nurturing talent, and really, we all know that Aussies do it better than anyone else…

See www.toyota.com.au for more info.