With the COVID-19 pandemic turning our world on its head, all auto manufacturers had seized production. But there is light at the end of the tunnel as one of India’s biggest carmakers – Toyota have restarted production today.
The brand’s manufacturing plant in Bidadi, Bangalore is up and running again, albeit in a restricted capacity. The production is being ramped up in a step-by-step approach in accordance with government directives. Not only that, but over 290 Toyota dealerships across the country have also opened their doors to customers again, along with nearly 230 Toyota service outlets.
Speaking about this latest development, Raju B. Ketkale, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “We are thankful to the Government for resuming operations of industries. We would also like to express our heartiest gratitude towards our supplier and dealer partners, as well as our trusted employees who have worked very hard to help us resume operations. While restarting operations we have deliberately been very circumspect to take some more time, owing to the fact that we wanted to take extra precautions so as to ensure that both the workplace and its surroundings are safe for us to resume work. The physical and mental well-being of our employees is of utmost importance to us and we do not want to jeopardize the same at any cost. As you are aware, we have come up with a revised set of guidelines to work by and we have been rerunning the ‘Restart Manual’ to ensure successful implementation of the same before our workforce resumes office. In order to minimize the number of employees at the workplace, most of our office employees will still continue to work from home for some more time.
“As a part of our recommencement approach, we have also introduced various safety initiatives at our dealerships, keeping in mind the safety and well-being of our dealer staff, who are at the frontline as well as our customers. Additionally, we have started operating our service outlets so as to be able to support our customers with any of their service and spare parts requirements. Toyota Kirloskar Motor places the highest priority to the safety and well-being of its stakeholders by adopting the ‘Safety and Health First’ approach, and has taken every necessary precaution before restarting operations.”
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