Technical Evaluation and Investigation Co-Op Experience

(Toyota Motor North America)

by

Joanna Ringhofer
(214) 471-6241
jsringhofer@tamu.edu

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Texas A&M University

ENGR 385

Senior
First Co-Op Work Term
Spring 2020

Approved by: Jason York

Supervisor
6565 Headquarters Dr.
Plano, TX, 75024

4 May 2020
 I. Abstract

The purpose of this report is to present the activities and skills I developed during my

first term as a Quality Co-Op at Toyota Motor North America. With the objective of improving

efficiency and ergonomic safety in processes, I introduced new methods of cable management,

improved the ergonomics associated with airbag deployment preparations, created a training

resource for using a mill machine, and revised the template for writing standardized work

instructions. Throughout each project and internal group I was involved in, I developed valuable

skills such as innovative problem solving, communication, and adaptability.

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II. Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………….…………………………………………………...1

1 Introduction………………………………....……….……………………………………….....3

2 Projects…………………....………………….……………………………………………...….4

2.1 Cable Management……………………………………………..……………..……...4

2.2 Seat Mobility…………………………………….……………….……………..…….5

2.3 Mill MOP……………………………………….……………………………….……7

2.4 STW Writing…………………………………….………………….…………….…..8

3 Engagement………………………………………….…...……………….……....…………....9

4 Conclusion………………………………………….…………………………..……………..11

5 References………………………………………….…………………………....………....….12

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 1. Introduction

As a third-year mechanical engineering student at Texas A&M University, I am

completing my first term in the Co-Op program at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). With

its global headquarters based in Toyota, Aichi, Japan, and its North American headquarters in

Plano, TX, USA, Toyota is an automotive manufacturing company that employs over 300,000

team members in total. Being the largest car company in the world, Toyota has announced in

recent years a transition to becoming a “Mobility for All” company - an idea that indicates a

definite plan for growth in terms of new projects and ideas. During my Spring 2020 term as a

Co-Op, this idea has manifested itself into a range of meaningful engineering projects within the

Quality department. Specifically, I have been working with the Technical Evaluation and

Investigation group, which focuses on conducting laboratory tests based on requests from other

internal groups. Through each project and activity I have participated in, I have been able to

easily identify Toyota’s core values of continuous improvement and respect for people. Despite

the fact that the spread of COVID-19 disrupted my ability to work on lab-based projects halfway

through my work experience, I have still been able to support the team as I have adapted to a

work-from-home environment. Throughout my term, I have worked on four main projects with

the purpose of improving cable management, enhancing seat mobility ergonomics, creating a

mill machine operating procedure, and developing a standardized work instruction template.

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 2. Projects

2.1 Cable Management

In the laboratory of the Open Bay on campus, the quality of airbags coming from

manufacturing plants is evaluated through deployment tests. Since the airbags have already been

installed in the part of the vehicle corresponding to their function, car frames and individual seats

from various models are sent to the lab. Several high-resolution cameras and studio lights are set

up around testing chambers to record the deployments, which are triggered on command by a

computer signal sent to an electric squib. With this surrounding technical equipment, there are

many cables on the floor that take a lot of time to set up and tear down between tests, giving rise

to trip hazards. I was tasked with improving cable management in the airbag lab to facilitate the

process of moving equipment and maintaining an orderly work space. The current cable

management condition consists of large, narrow trenches that run along the lab floor near each

chamber, covered by removable lids. While a portion of the cables are hidden underneath the

covers of these trenches, organization is limited because an open space in the floor almost

inevitably leads to unintended clutter and tangled cables. Throughout the planning phases of this

project, I contacted a Toyota team member from the Research and Development (R&D)

department to benchmark their cable management situation because R&D has a lot of technical

equipment involved in testing. To my surprise, the team member told me that this is an

unresolved issue, as he sent me supporting photos of their poorly-managed cables. After

brainstorming ideas that could be beneficial and feasible towards improving storage of the

cables, I narrowed my search to finding a suitable reel that could be placed in the trenches. This

consisted of looking into several different reel companies before I decided to contact Hannay

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Reels as a potential vendor. I have taken a few electrical engineering courses as part of the

required curriculum for mechanical engineering students at Texas A&M. While these courses

provided me with foundational electrical concepts, I did not feel prepared to discuss cable

specifications with vendors. However, I considered this lack of knowledge a learning

opportunity, and was surprised by the amount of information I obtained about reels in a short

amount of time. By engaging in discussion with vendors, researching reel information online,

and even experimenting with the hose reel in my backyard, I learned about important differences

between live and storage reels. The former allows “current to pass through while [the cable is]

still on the reel” while the latter requires that the cable “be taken off the spool of the reel to be

connected and used” [1]. With the approval of my supervisor, I ordered a custom storage reel to

trial with the cables attached to one camera- four cables in total that would wind around one reel.

Although I was unable to fully complete this project because work-from-home orders limited my

ability to continue with hands-on experimentation, I am confident that I have found a solution

that encourages continuous improvement and will help decrease cycle times and eliminate trip

hazards. I have created handover documents describing key observations for moving forward

with this project, and hope it can even be used as a benchmark for other groups (such as R&D) in

the future.

2.2 Seat Mobility

While many airbag deployments are done with an entire car frame in a testing chamber

(e.g. passenger airbag), only a single seat is needed for side-impact airbag deployments. For such

tests, after the seats are checked in to the facility, team members must carry each seat

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individually from the check-in area to the airbag lab. Once set on the floor of the airbag lab, they

must be marked, lifted to adjust the recline angle, and lifted again onto a jig for deployment. The

process can be ergonomically tolling for a team member; therefore, I was tasked with

introducing a method to facilitate the safe and ergonomic handling of individual seats while

increasing productivity. In order to help select the best option for addressing this issue, I created

an evaluation matrix to compare potential solutions against weighted criteria such as

affordability, feasibility, effective use of space, etc. Analyzing the matrix revealed that a robotic

arm, lifting dolly, pulley system, or a ramp would either be far too expensive, take up a lot of

space, or be inefficient, among other discoveries. I therefore decided that a scissor lift would be

the most suitable solution in terms of meeting the criteria to alleviate the in-lab tasks of marking

a seat and adjusting its position. Deciding on important specifications such as the lift height, rise

time, and platform dimensions for the table proved to be a more difficult task than expected in

order to select the most suitable product for the intended application. Modeling platforms and

mounting plates in Autodesk Inventor, a computer-aided design application, proved beneficial

towards visualizing lift options in reference to seat and tool dimensions [2]. When I eventually

chose a scissor lift that my supervisor and coworkers approved of, work-from-home orders

prevented us from ordering the product as the company set out to minimize costs in all areas

except those deemed essential. Since these orders have been put in place, I have created a

detailed handover document that describes the work that has been done thus far and the future

plans of the project.

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 2.3 Mill MOP

Since the Headquarters facility has only been open in Plano for three years, many team

members are still in the process of writing Standardized Work Instructions (STW) and Machine

Operating Procedures (MOP). Both of these documents are a type of work instruction that is

helpful for training team members and standardizing processes. STWs and MOPs are expected to

be detailed and direct enough so that someone who has never used a machine or performed a

particular process can do so by simply following the instructions. A cover page delineates

general information about the process, as well as materials required and general safety.

Following the cover page, a procedure table consists of the steps of the procedure (ordered by

chronological step numbers), key points and safety associated with each step, and a picture or

diagram for clarity. Once written by the team member who is most familiar with the process or

machine, the work instructions must pass through the approval of the Parts Analysis Engineer,

Supervisor, Manager, and the consideration of a Senior Manager. During my term, I attended

two one-on-one training sessions on how to use the TRAK DPM RX3 Bed Mill in order to write

a Machine Operating Procedure myself, since one did not yet exist for this piece of equipment in

the lab. Following these training sessions- one of which was focused on using the manual

features of the mill and the other on the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Programming- I

took about 100 photos of the mill and its digital screen to include in the MOP. Writing became a

bit more challenging following the work-from-home orders due to COVID-19, because I could

no longer access the machine shop to work with the mill and ensure my instructions were clear

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and correct. However, relying on my notes, YouTube videos, and user manuals from the

Southwestern Industries website [3], I was able to complete a 48-page MOP and submit it for

review. After making corrections based on feedback from the engineer on my team and my

supervisor, it now must be approved by my manager before becoming an official training

document. With this document, team members who have little to no experience using the mill

can be trained to machine metal parts or even upload CAD files to fabricate mechanical models

[4]. My communication and technical writing skills were further developed through the

completion of this project because of the clarity needed to explain mill processes in a

straightforward manner. Prior to completing this project, I had only used a mill machine a few

times for an undergraduate class; therefore, my knowledge of mill machines also grew

significantly.

2.4 STW Writing

Standardizing processes is important so that quality and consistency are maintained

regardless of when a process is performed or who performs it. It is thus necessary that every lab

team member contributes to developing work instructions according to their independent

procedures. However, the process of writing standardized work instructions can be

time-consuming itself, and there is a lot of room for error. Currently, the documents are

composed in Microsoft Excel, with separate sheets corresponding to each page that is eventually

printed as a paper copy. With this system, editing becomes a tedious task for any team member;

if a step is inevitably removed or added, the team member must shift every step afterwards by

copying-and-pasting accordingly. For long documents, this can occupy a significant amount of a

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team member’s time, and there is no guarantee that they will not have to rearrange steps again. I

was thus tasked with improving the process of writing standardized work instructions to improve

efficiency. I considered programming a Macro in Excel to solve this, but decided on creating an

identical template to write the documents in Microsoft Word instead, since Excel is a more

suitable application for organizing numerical data and performing calculations. A few of the

benefits that have emerged through the development of this template include increased fluidity

between pages, better document visualization, an automatic page-numbering system, and

improved collaboration through Microsoft Teams. In addition, I wrote a standardized work

instruction document for using this new template to minimize confusion as team members copy

their documents from Excel to Word. Moving forward, I hope to finish developing code I have

been writing in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) in Excel to help facilitate this transition and

integrate additional improvements to the template.

3. Engagement

Not only through the completion of projects have I grown as a professional during my

Co-Op term, but also through my involvement in multiple groups and training sessions available

at Toyota. I was a member of two Engagement Teams within the Quality department: the

Community Engagement Team and the Connections Team. On the Community Engagement

Team, I helped plan a tour to the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County and a fundraising

event in Dallas. Due to COVID-19, both of these events were postponed; however, I am still

grateful to have become more aware of organizations contributing to the well-being of the

community. On the Connections Team, I helped plan events that promoted networking within the

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Quality department, such as a successful Super Bowl social and a March Madness event that was

unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. As a part of the food-ordering subteam for both of

these events, I learned more about the importance of budgeting and managing logistics. While

team members eventually transitioned to a work-from-home environment, I also helped create a

Microsoft Teams channel that would allow individuals within Quality to share tips, recipes, or

photos promoting a positive sense of unity during these uncertain times.

Even outside of the Quality department, I have participated in four Business Partnering

Groups (BPGs) including Woman Influencing and Impacting Toyota (WIIT), Toyota

Organization for the Development of latinOS (TODOS), Toyota Christian Fellowship (TCF),

and Young Professionals (YP). These employee-driven groups embody core company values

while working to “strengthen the collection of innovative ideas and voices that represent the

future of Toyota” [5]. As a member of WIIT, TODOS, TCF, and YP, I have been able to

celebrate and promote diversity, inclusion, and recognition in the workplace through unique

virtual networking events during my term. One specific event I participated in before COVID-19

limitations were put in place was volunteering for the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC)

organization in Dallas, which relies on volunteers to pack meals for undernourished children all

over the world. In this activity I represented Toyota with other Co-Ops through Toyota4Good, a

program that encourages team members to volunteer and donate in various ways to support the

community.

I was highly encouraged at the beginning of my work experience to complete several

training sessions through Toyota’s Learning Center. Through these distinct online and in-person

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sessions, I was allowed the opportunity to expand my background knowledge of the company,

gain insight on proven problem-solving strategies, and develop a better understanding of how to

integrate quality into a process. A few of the training modules I completed include an

Automotive Systems Overview, The Toyota Way of Quality, and Toyota Business Plan (TBP)

Problem Solving. Each of these training courses, and those not mentioned, provided me with

unique perspectives that established a solid foundation towards my becoming of a successful

Toyota team member.

4. Conclusion

As a Quality Co-Op at Toyota Motor North America during the Spring 2020 semester, I

have been able to grow as an engineer and a professional through a variety of challenging

projects, insightful training sessions, and enriching engagement opportunities. As I reflect on my

term, I can identify many skills that have further developed as a result of these experiences, such

as communication, problem solving, and adaptability. Although the spread of COVID-19

disrupted my ability to continue the hands-on aspects of some projects, I have contributed to

increased productivity in the lab through the introduction of new cable management methods,

seat mobility techniques, training resources, and standardized work writing procedures.

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 5. References

[1] Company Website: Hannay Reels Inc., “REELS 101: How do I select the right reel model?”,

MDI​, Westerlo, NY, 2020

[2] Library Article: Hogue, W. M. “Computer-Aided Design in Body Engineering” ​SAE

Transactions, ​vol. 75, 1967, pp. 726-735

[3] Manual: Southwestern Industries, Inc. “TRAK Bed Mills ProtoTRAK RMX CNC Safety,

Programming, Operating and Care Manual,” Rancho Dominguez, CA, pp 76-91, 2020

[4] Library Article: Sherry, Ralph H. “METALLURGY IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY.”

SAE Transactions, v​ ol. 12, 1917, pp. 323-350. ​JSTOR

[5] Website: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc., “Business Partnering Groups”, 2020

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