Ruben Pritchard

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: Toyota Motor Manufacturing

With the employment market being both saturated and extremely competitive, I realised that students today need everything they can get to make them stand out in the job market. While I had already completed a year abroad, I felt that I had little experience in the job market, only having part time jobs in the past. I chose to complete a placement year to both help clarify what type of work I want to go into after I finish university and also to get a real experience of the job market.

My department, Internal Parts Flow (IPF) focused on managing all inventory once it is on site, and ensuring that it is fitted correctly to the cars. I specifically looked after Trim Line, one of the five main lines in the plant. Trim Line contains over 600 parts including engine wire harnesses and ECU’s, crucial parts for any car.  My daily jobs included managing inventory concerns, parts ordering, inventory adjustment as well as the additional projects I took on during my time there.

Working in Toyota was a brilliant experience, my department allowed me to have a great combination of working on the shop floor as well as working in the office. This combination of work environments allowed me to quickly learn and adapt into my role, and help me to gain a greater understanding of how issues arise as well as how to prevent them from happening in the future.

Overall my whole placement was an excellent learning experience,  developing me both professionally and personally, but what I really appreciated the most was that I felt like I was both valued by the firm as well as actually adding value to the firm in my time with TMUK.

The best part about my placement was the diversity of work, while I had the same responsibilities every day (looking after trim line), the problems I had to deal with varied every day making every day different. Furthermore, despite being an industrial trainee, I was not only given the responsibility of a full blown specialist (aswell as being treated like one), but I was also given the freedom to start and follow my own projects throughout my time in Toyota, which led to me saving Toyota £200000 in my time there and also identifying a million pound cost drain on TMUK.

While I am unsure whether I want to pursue a career in logistics, I have learnt that I want to pursue a career in a high pressure environment. Working in my department allowed me to successfully hone key skills such as time management, problem solving and lateral thinking capabilities, skills that are crucial for working in such an environment. As well as identifying the type of environment I enjoyed working in, this placement helped me develop by leaps and bounds both personally and professionally, a fact that I was told by many members before I left. Overall it was a brilliant year, which not only opened my eyes to what I am capable of achieving, but it helped me develop greatly in preparation for entering the job market after I complete my degree.