Toyota tech school: Fruits of learning to seed the world’s best plants

Tesda deputy director general for Technical Education and Skills Development Teodoro Pascua (second from left) and Tesda deputy director general for Policies and Planning Irene Isaac with Sobrepeña and Ty.

Carmeline D. Ewican, 28, loves anything that has moving parts. Of course, that includes cars. She doesn’t just dream about riding in them. Her ambition involves more of making them.

And she’s getting there, step by step, module by module. She recently changed the oil and cleaned the engine of a Land Cruiser. She also just overhauled the engine of a Fortuner. She had also worked on a Hilux pickup, a Vios, and virtually any other Toyota-manufactured vehicle. She also tackled a Toyota vehicle’s electrical systems.

Carmeline is one of 110 students who recently passed the rigorous two-year General Job course in Toyota Motor Philippines’ School of Technology in Santa Rosa City, Laguna. The course required her to specialize in the mechanical parts of the vehicle—engine, transmission, drivetrain, suspension, and electrical systems. She hurdled the course, and the tests, with flying colors, graduating with a leadership award. Naturally, her next step is to work in a Toyota dealership, and enroll once more, this time in a course in automotive engineering.

Carmeline, a native of Bohol, is a former information technology student who was forced to stop her studies due to financial constraints. She then worked abroad as a caregiver. When she went back home for a brief break, her aunt prodded her to stay and enroll in TMP School of Technology.

Inquirer Motoring caught up with Carmeline during the school’s Aug. 28 commencement exercises at the TMP tech school’s main building just beside the TMP Special Economic Zone along the Tagaytay-Santa Rosa Highway in Santa Rosa City, where TMP’s assembly plant is also found. The plant prides itself as being among the best-performing Toyota plants in the world for three years running. Last year, TMP was given the Excellent Quality Award by Toyota Japan for being the third-top manufacturing company in Asia and Middle East.

Carmeline’s inspiring story adds to the many young lives TMP Tech has impacted since September 2013, when it was inaugurated. She, along with hundreds of other TMP Tech graduates, represents the country’s response to the demand for excellent automotive mechanics here and abroad.

The first batch of graduates of the TMP Tech. Photo courtesy of Caryl Agondez

“I am pleased to see these young men and women, who are now ready to join the Toyota workforce, take the next step to become full-fledged Toyota automotive professionals. I am very happy that majority of our graduates will soon be working in local Toyota dealer outlets, while some will transition to the Specialized Toyota Automotive Training Program which will eventually make our students get employed by Toyota dealers in Saudi Arabia,” said Alfred V. Ty, TMP and TMP Tech vice chair.

In 2013, Cristina Arevalo, TMP corporate affairs group first vice president, revealed that “TMP’s vision is for the school to be the best source of highly skilled automotive workers in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Arevalo. “The school wants to develop well-rounded technical professionals, providing a conducive learning environment, and to strengthen relationships with local and international automotive partners.”

GT Foundation and Toyota Motor PH Foundation (TMPF) scholars together with TMP Tech vice chairman Alfred V. Ty (center), Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepena (extreme left) and TMPF assistant vice president Ronald Gaspar (extreme right)

Rapid motorization requires quality personnel.

Ty told the crowd consisting of representatives from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), the embassies of Japan and Australia, local government officials, Toyota dealer principals, TMP VIPs, and the 110 graduates of the General Job Batch 1 and their parents and relatives: “At this time of rapid motorization, the growth in vehicle demand necessitates high quality after-sales service to ensure customer satisfaction at all times.”

Ty said: “As I look at this inaugural batch, I am confident that we have made the right investment in the future of our youth. More importantly, our vision of making the Philippines the best source of highly skilled automotive professionals for global Toyota is now gaining ground.”

Dr. David Go, TMP Tech president, gave tribute to the school’s founders Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda and Dr. George SK Ty.

“For Toyota Motor Corp., this is the fulfillment of their technology transfer to future Filipino Toyota technicians who will be able to to effectively service the Toyota global network. To Toyota Motor Philippines, this is a realization of the company’s social contribution towards national development through technical education,” he added.

Ewican proudly displays her training certificate.  Tessa Salazar

Go addressed the founders when he extended “our sincerest gratitude for your unparalleled leadership in setting the goal for Toyota in the Philippines to prioritize quality education as an essential means for a better life for the Filipino automotive technician.”

Go also cited Tesda and the Santa Rosa local government for their “generous assistance in enabling TMP Tech to be the school of choice for technical education”, as well as the board of advisers, trustees and the dealer partners.

Toyota Dealers Association president Rene So also lauded the automaker for putting up the school, thereby making the company “support the country’s technical industry by providing an advanced technical education program.” So added that TMP “was able to support the dealer network by equipping TMP Tech graduates with the basic idea of the Toyota Way, which incorporates respect for people and continuous improvement.”

“The DNA and foundation of Toyota makes TMP Tech graduates the best technical graduates in the country,” said So.

TMP president Michinobu Sugata told the audience that “the first batch of graduates shall pave the way for future generations of Filipino Toyota professionals who shall complement and support the growing Philippine automotive industry by helping to level up the quality of Toyota’s after-sales service.”

During the 1-million-unit sales milestone celebration at Makati Shangri-La on July 9, TMP chair Dr. George S.K. Ty made special mention of TMP Technology, telling the audience made up of representatives from the Japanese and Philippine governments and VIPs of the private sector, including the leaders of rival car companies that the school’s pioneer batch would be graduating in August and would soon be ready for employment in the Toyota local dealer network.

Ty then went on to reveal that TMP Tech had partnered with Saudi Arabia under the Specialized Toyota Automotive Training Program, and that as of June 2015, a total of 161 graduates had been dispatched to Saudi Arabia.

“I am proud to say that, this early, the school is already fulfilling its mission of providing a better future for the Filipino youth by giving them gainful employment opportunities both locally and overseas,” Ty declared.

The hundreds of students now enrolled at TMP Tech are thus so driven to complete what they started. Nothing motivates a journey quite as strongly as a destination where dreams are fulfilled on a global scale.