At Halfway Toyota in Howick, workshop foreman Devesh Saamcharan stole a march on his Japanese colleagues in the Toyota Motor Corporation when he assembled a few foot-operated, hand-sanitiser dispensers back in May 2020.
The dispenser proved to be a novelty in May, before it became commonplace in dealers across South Africa.
Toyota announced recently that its Kamigo Parts Centre in Japan will be making up to 2 500 sanitiser stands a month, which are to be sold or leased to dealers in Japan from December onwards.
Saamcharan told Dealerfloor he built his stands as strong but as cheaply as possible, using wood and old clutch housings that he salvaged at the dealership. To this he added only a few new bolts, making it a very cost-effective solution for the dealership.
The sturdy stands are in daily use at the busy Halfway dealership, but despite being stepped on many times a day, are still cleaning hands as fast as the bottles can squirt.
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
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