Careers at Toyota: Jay's Story

By Josh Ebbs, Marketing Assistant

​Jay joined Toyota 5 years ago as a Guidant member. During these years he has worked in production control in which he helps to supply parts to the assembly line. His hard work and loyalty allowed him to be taken on as a permanent Toyota Manufacturing UK employee last October.

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A busy yet rewarding start to the day
When asking Jay how he starts his day, he said “me and my wife get ourselves and our daughter ready for the day ahead, then I drop my wife to work and daughter off at nursery and make my way to the factory”. Jay gets to work for 7am sharp - upon his arrival he has a pre-shift brief then ‘checks the headcount board’ which tells him which job to complete each session. Jay gets a lot of task rotation due to him knowing ‘nine different processes’ and tells us, “I am qualified to train members so often do this in the day”.

Feeling like part of the family
When asked about the favourite part of the work environment, Jay listed many things – “I feel like I can go to management whenever I need support”. He also told us “It’s like a family out there, we chat about each other’s lives and have great banter”. A group of colleagues including Jay frequently meet up together outside of the work environment.

With Jay having high functioning autism, the standardisation and routine within the workplace is great as it takes the stress away from him, but the people around him also show great support and this is a big part of why he likes working for Toyota.

Proud to work for Toyota
Jay believes “everyone is given a voice a Toyota” and due to Kaizen all employees are “given the power to affect and change the structures of the company”. Jay said, “I feel like I can make actual improvements myself – it’s brilliant!” Jay is extremely proud to work for one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, “I am proud that people associate the name Toyota with quality”. Jay is motivated by the fact that he is involved in the production of this high-quality product which puts smiles on customers’ faces!

A stepping stone to bigger things
Jay has learned a lot during his time at Toyota, one important thing being “relying on colleagues is not a weakness”. He told us that “working in a team is much better than struggling on my own”- there is no ‘I in team’.

Jay wants to progress as far as he can within the company and his goal is ‘to run the plant one day in the future’. Although his section manager and group leader are a huge inspiration to him, he told us: “They know I plan on coming for their spots!”

If, like Jay, you’d like to see where a career at Toyota Manufacturing UK could take you, we are currently recruiting for Production Members at Deeside. Click here to apply through our quick and easy chatbot.

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