Toyota Upscales its Unique Skill Initiative to Accelerate the Growth of India’s Skill Pool

Toyota Kirloskar Motor [TKM] has announced its fifth institutional tie-up in the state of Tamil Nadu with the launch of its unique training model Toyota Technical Education Program (T-TEP) Service Advisor category, at the Sriram Polytechnic College in Chennai. Aimed at generating talented and technically skilled professionals for the automobile industry in Chennai, the first TTEP program in the state was established under General Technical category in 2006 in collaboration with M.C. Jain Industrial Training Center.

This distinctive initiative by Toyota represents the incessant efforts taken by the company to bridge the skill gap that exists by developing trained personnel to meet the ever-increasing demand of the emerging industry for skilled resources. This association provided a platform to Sriram Polytechnic College to train and equip their students with the best knowledge to thrive and succeed in the industry as professionals towards achieving employability status.

The event which was held at Sriram Polytechnic College in Chennai, graced by Dr. R. Narayanasamy - Chairman and M. D. Rajkumar – Secretary & Trustee of Sriram Educational Trust, in the presence of the representative from Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Vedaparakash S. Tiwari - General Manager.

T-TEP, a special training module was launched in the year 2006, where Toyota associated with 50 industrial training institutes [over the years] across the country. The program is aimed at educating and providing technical training with hands-on real time experience to ITI students across India in Toyota dealer outlets. In its first year, the program was implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hubli. The program was subsequently introduced nation-wide covering Bengaluru, Mysuru, Lalru, Pune, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Indore, Vizag, Ludhiana, Cuttack, Haldwani, Nalbari, Gurgaon, Satara, Paramakudi , Chalakudy, Mangaluru, Calicut & Nashik.

Till date, around 7,000 students have successfully completed this program, out of which more than 63% are employed at various dealerships of Toyota, across India. This is the fifth T-TEP in Tamil Nadu, following one institute in Mohanmull Chordia Jain Industrial Training Center Chennai, two in Government Industrial Training Institute, Paramakudi and one in Don Bosco Technical Campus Chennai. Till date, more than 250 students have been trained by Toyota through this program in Tamil Nadu, out of which 83% have been recruited by Toyota dealers.

The main purpose of this program is to enhance and augment the technical abilities and employability of Industrial Training Institute (ITI) students in the age group of 16 to 18 years. The program supports in developing skilful technicians for the Indian automotive repair industry. The current scenario of the automobile repair industry is characterised by low skilled manpower and lack of professional training for repair and diagnostics of vehicles to meet the evolving needs of the market requirements.

Commenting on the new partnership V. Dattatreya- Principal - Sriram Polytechnic College said, “It is a privilege to collaborate with Toyota through this unique skill program that will provide our students with the knowledge and technical know-how to succeed in the Indian automotive industry. The most significant mission of our institution is to train our students to become skilful technicians and make them Industry-ready to meet the ever-increasing demand for skilled work force in the industry.  Toyota Technical Education Program is an interactive curriculum and we are confident that this platform will provide the desired opportunity for the aspiring students to enhance their analytical skills and give them a diverse viewpoint to the extensive automotive technology program that we already offer at our institute.”

Commenting on the occasion N Raja, Deputy Managing Director - Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “We are happy to announce the launch of our training model T-TEP (SA) in association with Sriram Polytechnic College in Chennai. There is a growing need to enhance the quality and build relevance into the current skill development programs. As per the figures released by the National Sample Survey, out of the 470 million people who are in the working age group, only close to 10% receive any kind of training or access to skilled employment opportunities.

T-TEP was initiated in the year 2006 to cater to the skill gap prevailing with inadequate availability of trained and skilled manpower in the industry. Through this initiative, we aim to develop students with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge required to confidently function in a seamless manner and effectively contribute to succeed in their designated tasks. Further, all our holistic skill development initiatives are aimed at contributing to Government of India’s ‘Skill India’ mission by bridging the gap between India’s rapidly growing industrial sector and availability of highly skilled workforce,” he added.

The SA T-TEP, a 1 year syllabus, introduces students to Toyota’s advanced technologies and service techniques. It also includes, on-the-job training at Toyota’s dealerships. As a part of this program, TKM will also train institute instructors on the technological advancements & best practices of Toyota and the Automobile Industry. TKM plans to further expand this program to technical institutes across the country in the coming years and reach out to many more students to up-scale their skill sets. The project is jointly funded by Toyota Motor Corporation [japan and Toyota Kirloskar Motor. Together they provide T-TEP institutes with hi-tech training packages and Toyota service training manuals and materials.

T-TEP is widely recognized across the globe for its effectiveness. The program has been successfully introduced in 508 institutes across 55 countries by Toyota, which includes USA, Australia, Italy, South Africa, China, Vietnam and India.