Toyota Kirloskar Motor wins bronze at mechatronics competition

In what comes as a major boost to Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s contribution to the country’s ‘Skill India’ program, N Akhilesh and S N Karthik Gowda from the company have won a bronze medal at the Mechatronics Skills during the WorldSkills Competition held in Germany from October 4-7. Having first been selected through an internal skill competition, they made it to the District, Zonal, State, Regional and IndiaSkills competition before reaching the WorldSkills arena.

The WorldSkills Competition, which has been held from 1950, is the global hub for skills excellence and development. It is the global space for government, education, industry, and association leaders to discuss relevant and important issues related to skills management.

The participants were selected through a nationwide screening process under the aegis of National Skill Development Council (NSDC) and Electronics Sector Skills Council of India (ESSCI). Participants from 26 countries including India, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom showcased their skills. In the Mechatronics Skills category, India won the bronze, Chinese Taipei bagged silver and Japan received gold.

G. Shankara, Vice President, HR and Services from Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) commented: “N Akhilesh and S N Karthik Gowda’s win at the WorldSkills has given our skill development initiatives a much-needed boost. At Toyota, we are dedicated towards developing a self-sufficient and globally competitive value chain by making significant efforts and investments in human development. Toyota's human development efforts stem from the company's belief that its most valuable asset is its people and these initiatives contribute towards our mission of ‘Producing Mass Happiness for All' by sharing knowledge and developing  young people into world-class technicians."

Lst month, Likith Kumar Y P from TKM also won the bronze medal at the WorldSkills competition representing India in the Prototype Modeling Skills contest, which was held at Switzerland from September 7-9.

Doing its bit for India
As a part of its commitment towards developing world class skilled workforce for the emerging Indian auto Industry, Toyota in 2007 established the Toyota Technical Training Institute (TTTI) that offers a three-year rigorous full-time training in Automobile Assembly, Automobile Paint, Automobile Weld and Mechatronics to financially challenged students hailing from rural hinterlands across Karnataka state.

This three-year free residential training program established by TKM concentrates not only on knowledge and skills but also on body and mind development. TTTI is recognized by the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT), Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM), Automotive Skill Development Council (ASDC) and Directorate General of Training (DGT).

TKM has undertaken a major expansion of TTTI with capacity going up from 200 to 1,200 students (academic batch-wise). This will be a major boost to the existing skill facility in its Bidadi plant with a focus to scale-up students’ skillset for advanced technologies, by globally certified skilled faculty members of the institute.

Thus far, TKM has trained over 77,360 employable youths through a variety of skill development initiatives. TKM is currently working on establishing one Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in each district of the 31 districts in Karnataka. TKM continues to train students in 53 institutes across 22 Indian states through the Toyota Technical Education Program (TTEP). The primary objective of the TTEP initiative is to enhance the student’s skill sets which will strengthen the talent pool from the grass root level and provide opportunities for youth with special focus on rural areas. 

Along with this, Toyota dealers also support by providing On-the-Job training to these students. TKM also has collaborations with the governments of Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, New Delhi, and Telangana to provide skill development to students and faculty members. TKM's skill outreach has grown over the years, resulting in creating world-class skill champions.

WorldSkills Competition also called as Skill Olympics is an event held biennially in a member country or regions. This year, 62 skill competitions are being hosted at 29 events, in 26 cities, across 15 countries between 7th September to 26th November 2022. More than 1,000 participants representing 57 countries put their skills to test. The participants are all under the age of 23 years (except for four skills that have the age limit of 25 years).

Trainers at TKM have imparted boot camp training to youth aspiring to participate in the WorldSkills hailing from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Odisha, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana in Mechatronics and Protype Modelling Skills. TKM participants have won one bronze medal in 2017 and four Medallions of Excellence in (2015, 2017 and 2019) in Prototype Modelling and Mechatronics category in the previously organized WorldSkills competitions.