Standardised workshop for WHS

This month, eight members of our manufacturing staff went to visit Toyota UK, near Derby. The purpose of the visit was to look at standardised operation instructions which are a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by a company to help staff carry out complex routine operations. Toyota allowed our staff to take notes and see how WHS may be able to improve our own operator instructions. The day involved learning about the standard at Toyota UK and assessing their operator instructions against that standard. WHS Staff went down to the Toyota test track to see if these instructions were implemented correctly on the shop floor or whether there were any discrepancies. The Staff then had to write our own instructions using the Toyota standard to instruct a novice on ‘how to open a bonnet’ and finally assess some of our own operator instructions from WHS against their standard criteria. Emma Delaney, who produces WHS’s operator instructions stated “I enjoyed the course provided by Toyota and found it interesting. It was also good to see how Toyota do their instructions as it’s given me new ideas on ways I can improve on the instructions here at WHS.”

To finish the visit in style,  WHS staff were taken around the test track by Martyn one of the Senior Specialists at Toyota. He showed the group different tests which a new car would go through including, rumble strips, kerb tests, skid tests, parking break tests and then two laps around the track. One of these as a slow lap which showed the steep incline of the track. It was a fantastic end to a great day which was thoroughly enjoyed by everybody. Martyn commented “The staff at WHS were a great group to have. The test track visit was fun for me aswell and capped off a great day! It will be great to work with you all in the future.” Another group at WHS will be visiting Toyota during next month for the same workshop. WHS would like to thank Toyota for their time and their insight into standardised operator instructions and for helping WHS improve and strengthen our own processes.