Chrysler 2010 Annual Report Download - page 62

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World Class Manufacturing (WCM)
At year-end 2010, the World Class Manufacturing program had been implemented at 130 plants (114 at
year-end 2009), representing 95% of the manufacturing cost base for all Group plants worldwide. The
number of projects proposed by plants rose to 38,000 from 22,000 at the end of 2009, with improvements
in quality reflected in the increase in average savings per project. The number of plant audits increased
approximately 20% year-over-year. Following the completion of specific external audits, 9 plants worldwide
achieved WCM certification during the year (6 Bronze and 3 Silver).
At 31 December 2010, a total of 200 supplier plants had implemented the WCM program.
The program was also rolled out at Chrysler plants during the year, with
a total of 3,200 man-days in training support from the central team,
and 8,500 projects implemented.
Collective bargaining
Agreements reached in 2010 provided for pay increases or one-off payments to compensate employees for
cost-of-living increases and were in line or slightly above official cost-of-living increases recorded for the period.
In Italy, increases provided in the national collective labor agreement for metalworking sector employees (non-
management) – which covers approximately 97% of Group employees in Italy – were applied and adjustments
established under the national collective labor agreement for managers of industrial companies, renewed
in November 2009, were also implemented. With regard to company-level negotiations (covering almost all
employees of the Group’s metalworking sector companies), a memorandum was signed on 14 July 2010
with the trade unions FIM, FIOM, UILM, FISMIC and UGL Metalmeccanici confirming, for 2010 and 2011, the
payment of a monthly performance bonus based on targets established in previous agreements (a gross annual
amount of €1,343.03 for employees in categories 1-4) and also stipulating that the Group’s 2009 results were
below target and, therefore, conditions had not been met for payment of an additional bonus amount. As a
result, the performance bonus was some €600 less than the average amount paid in 2009. In December, a
one-off gross payment of €200 was also paid to workers of FMA in Pratola Serra based on the performance
bonus agreement signed in July 2009 for plants achieving Silver level under the World Class Manufacturing
program.
Outside Italy, the principal company-level agreements established during 2010 included the annual negotiation
in France, which resulted in salary increases of between 1% and 1.5%, depending on the company.
In Germany, collective bargaining for renewal of the metalworkers’ contract, applied at most Group companies
in Germany, was conducted at the individual state level. The agreements maintained current salary levels up to
31 March 2011, with a one-off gross payment of €320 relating to the period from May 2010 to March 2011,
payable in two equivalent installments in May and December 2010. A 2.7% salary increase will then be applied
from 1 April 2011.
In Poland, company-wide pay negotiations, which did not result in any structural increases in 2009, resulted
in average increases of about PLZ 300 gross per month and, except for a few companies, one-off bonuses
averaging around PLZ 1,500 gross, payable in two or more installments and directly linked to achievement
of production plans objectives. However, due to the worsening of market conditions and resulting impact on
production, for most Group companies conditions for payment of all bonus installments were not met.