Chrysler 1999 Annual Report Download - page 20

19
Report on Operations – Fiat and its People
In addition to completing the value creation training program
for executives and middle managers, the Group’s professional
development effort focused on the following topics in 1999:
❚Business process reengineering (logic and methodologies).
❚Project Professional and Competencies Development.
Taking into account perceived user needs, Isvor Fiat
developed a training package that includes the use of
sophisticated teaching technologies (business television
and multimedia programs), as well as an online learning
and self-teaching system that can be used directly where
employees work (Isvor Campus).
❚“Commercial Schools” that were used to enhance the
competencies of dealership employees in 16 countries
and of Fiat Auto’s entire sales force (7,000 sales people).
The Group’s commitment to the educational system is
demonstrated by the numerous initiatives it sponsors in
cooperation with learning institutions to support technical
and scientific study and research projects, by the internship
programs it offers, and by the events it organizes — career
days, for example — to motivate students. The outstanding
events of 1999 in this field were:
“... establishment of a course for a degree in automotive
engineering...”
This course, which is the result of an agreement between
the Turin Politecnico University and Fiat, has been established
to train engineers who can not only design vehicles and
understand manufacturing processes, but also have a
comprehensive vision of how an enterprise operates and
interacts with its markets and customers.
The curriculum is the product of a close collaborative effort
between educators and business people. It combines classroom
instruction with workshops and theoretical/practical activities,
including 400 hours of internship work in a corporate setting.
In addition, at least 20% of the instruction time is provided
by teachers who are not professional educators (automotive
industry representatives).
A total of 60 students were admitted in the 1999/2000
school year. As many as 120 students may be accepted
starting with the 2000/2001 school year.
“...grants and scholarships...”
The Fiat Grants and Scholarship Program, which is reserved for
the children of active employees in Italy and abroad, continued
in 1999. This program, which was established in 1996, is
funded with the fees waived by the directors of Fiat S.p.A.
The program has been particularly successful and will be
continued in 2000 using the endowment provided in 1999.
Grants and scholarships
1999
Number of grants and scholarships awarded 709
Italy 255
Other countries (*) 454
Total amount disbursed (in thousands of euros) 1,460
(*) The other countries are: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Poland, Spain and the United States.
“...teaching programs for schools...”
Special programs offered in schools and to young people in
general within the “Fiat in the Schools” project, which the
Company has sponsored in Italy and Brazil in recent years,
were again extremely well received in 1999. In Italy, the project
included three multimedia instructional programs that promoted
highway education, correct mobility and a culture of safety; a total
of 6 million elementary, junior high and high school students had
followed these programs. A special kit prepared in 1999, on
the occasion of Fiat’s Centennial, combines tools and material
that help students retrace the history of the last century.
In Brazil, the “Fiat para escola” programs reached over 10 million
students, in 18,000 schools, over three years.