What kinds of people make cars? Let’s ask some people who work for Toyota about the work they do and how they feel about it!   I’m in charge of using a crane to move steel rolls and molds to the stamping machine for stamping. And I also change the arms of the robots that move the steel plates inside the stamping machine. Many different parts are made using the same machine, so it is necessary to work quickly and safely. Also, I use a crane to move very big and heavy objects in the small spaces between machines, so I have to be very careful. The job requires a lot of skill. “Safety is the key for all work.” I hope to pass on my 35 years of experience without a single accident to new employees so they can have a safe workplace.   After the welding is done, I use a special tool to inspect the car bodies to see if the steel plates have been firmly attached. If the welding is not good, the size and shape of the car will change, so my work is very important. I can’t overlook any problem, no matter how small, to make sure that our cars are safe for customers. As the leader of 30 workers, I cooperate with them and exchange ideas about how to improve our work. In my 20 years of work here, my happiest moment was winning the Gold Prize under the company’s “creative suggestions” system.   My job is to teach the painting robots how to move. I carefully analyze the movements of experienced workers and program the robots so they can make the same movements and paint every part of the car body perfectly, just like an experienced worker. If there is a problem with a robot, I have to make various changes to the data. I hope to continue using robots efficiently so they can move with the same precision as a person. In the painting process, dirt is our biggest enemy. If your body stores up static electricity, you will attract dust. Because of this, when we enter the factory we have to wear special clothes that prevent static electricity and all dirt is removed using an air shower.   I attach the windshield and rear window, which are very big and heavy. It used to take two people to do this job, but a new robot was introduced to do the work that can be operated by one person. First I make sure that a kind of glue is properly applied to the window, and then the window is attached. I judge the spot where the window is to be attached by eye and carefully operate the robot so that the car body and window are only about 4 millimeters apart, and then press the button to attach the window to the body. It is challenging to quickly attach the window to exactly the right spot. I practiced many times at a training area, and I could do it right once I perfectly learned the shape and size of the cars. There are only four people in the company including me who can use this robot efficiently, which is something I am proud of.   I regularly inspect and adjust the robots and machinery used at the assembly factory so that they work properly. If a machine breaks down, I quickly repair it and make improvements so that the same problem won’t happen again. Inspection and adjustment work is done mainly when the production line is stopped and no factory workers are working. We work in three shifts, 24 hours a day. We listen to the opinions of people who work on the production lines and try to create a workplace where people can work safely and accurately.   I graduated from the Toyota Technical Skills Academy, which is a part of Toyota Motor Corporation. At the Academy, I studied, played sports, and also received factory training for my future work at Toyota. My workplace is cheerful and I can talk to my coworkers about anything, so I enjoy working there every day. There are about 100 female workers at the Takaoka Plant where I work. I underwent intensive training for three months and then became a car inspector. Even after becoming an inspector, I take a test every month to improve my inspection skills. This is why we can deliver Toyota cars to customers with confidence. I hope to learn a lot from experienced coworkers and raise my skills even further.   I think about what kind of people are driving our cars, what kind of cars we should make, and how much they should cost. I instruct the designers so we can make cars exactly as planned. We use feedback from customers from all over the world so we can create cars that satisfy them. My dream is to create a sports car that is environmentally friendly, can be driven safely, and is fun to drive.   I want to create car designs that will excite customers every day and that they will love to drive for a long time. It is something like drinking freshly squeezed orange juice. Even if you drink it every day, you never get tired of it and want to drink it again soon. Toyota makes many different kinds of cars, but for each one we think about how we want it to be used and we design them as if they were presents for people who are very important to us.   When a new prototype car is created, we conduct many different tests to find out many things, including whether it can be driven for a long time without breaking down and if the exhaust is clean. There are all sorts of different natural environments around the world, including very hot places, countries where it snows a lot, regions with a lot of rain, and cities with many hills. We test our cars in test rooms in Japan, but also take them to various locations so local people can drive them and give us advice. For example, in a country where there aren’t a lot of paved roads and the roads are very bumpy, we design cars that are a little higher above the road and make changes so that they are the most comfortable and the easiest to use cars for that country.