The Story Behind This Viral Toyota Hiring Test With Ropes And A 6-Second Time Limit - Jalopnik

Toyota

Toyota is a company that's been pretty open about its pride in its manufacturing practices, and for good reason. The Toyota Production System pioneered and popularized a bunch of lean manufacturing principles that have since been adopted by many companies in and outside of the auto industry. These companies include, but aren't limited to, Ford, John Deere, Nike, and Amazon.

Toyota takes manufacturing seriously, to say the least, and a microcosm of this is highlighted in a viral hand-eye coordination test that prospective plant workers apparently must pass. It involves wrapping a rope around a series of six wall-mounted pegs in the correct order and direction under six seconds. Watching clips of people doing it, it's definitely one of those challenges that sounds easier than it is.

We reached out to Toyota for more information about the "Rope Twist" training challenge, and a spokesperson said it's one of the company's traditional "dojo training tools," and that the example in the video looks like it's located in its Kentucky experience center.

Toyota shows how they value fast hands

Toyota

The manufacturer also sent over footage of something it calls the "Flip and Place" challenge. It's based on the Minnesota Dexterity Test and is meant to improve muscle memory. Workers and prospective hires must use both hands to flip 10 pairs of little hockey puck-like disks, presumably within a set time limit. The automaker says the average person does this in 20 seconds, but the average Toyota plant employee can do it in 14.

Both the Rope Twist and Flip and Place challenges are said to "improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination, which are part of Toyota production ergonomics," per Toyota. "These training techniques get team members ready to work on the floor. They were also found to be a great way to engage experience center visitors and help educate our customers on plant processes. In short, it helps tell the story of how we invest in and train team members."

On the surface, these physical challenges might look a bit superfluous and silly. Still, if they've helped Toyota build a reputation for getting quality right the first time and pumping out cars that can go 200,000 miles and beyond, we say flip on.