Toyota Training Courses for Auris Hybrid Production

British workers at Toyota’s Burnaston and Deeside factories have benefited from extensive training courses in hybrid vehicle manufacturing and wider environmental issues, aimed at supporting production of the new Auris Hybrid vehicle. Employees were trained in issues such as safe handling of the high voltage elements of the Hybrid Synergy Drive powertrain.

“Launching production of the new Auris Hybrid has called for a big investment in training. We have even developed a new Diploma in Hybrid Vehicle Introduction and Environmental Improvement, together with the Sector skills Council for Science, Engineering and manufacturing Technologies, which has been formally recognised as an NVQ Level 2,” Tony Walker, TMUK Deputy Managing Director, explained in a release.

The workers have also traveled to Japan and the USA to learn best practice in safety and quality from their Toyota colleagues who make Prius at Tsutsumi and in Kentucky, where the hybrid Camry is built.

“It means we are the first in Europe to have the skills and knowledge needed to manufacture full hybrid vehicles. And with Toyota’s strategy to progressively expand its full hybrid technology to more models, TMUK will be well placed potentially to produce them,” added Walker.

The range of different practical study elements within the qualification includes:

• Environmental effectiveness in the workplace
• Application of environmental learning in society
• Evaluation of standard operating procedures during new model introduction
• Verification of new product designs using a trial vehicle
• Contribution to the application of problem solving techniques during new model introduction

Production of the new Toyota Auris begins at the Burnaston plant later this month. The 1.8-litre VVT-i petrol engine featured in the hybrid powertrain is supplied by the company’s plant at Deeside. The new Auris Hybrid is set to go on sale in the UK on July 1.