A PROJECT EVOLVING CONTINUOUSLY
In order to meet the demand for new qualified professionals in the automotive sector, FCA developed a pilot project in Italy during 2012 to complement the training programme by adding new topics focusing on behavioural – in addition to technical – skills. A specific training module was designed to facilitate the acquisition of technical and business skills for "Service Advisors"¹, who are important figures in the area of customer management.
The operation, which was kicked off in 2012, attracted interest from other TechPro² centres in Europe and worldwide. In 2013, Poland came to the forefront with the activation of the Kurs "Przyjmujący" project, which included the new training module, considered a sound addition to the programmes for third-year students and an important element for completing the course of studies.
A programme called "Diksha" was started in India aimed at providing vocational education and technical training to local youths. The primary objective of the programme was to provide help to poor and disadvantaged students, who would otherwise not have access to good schools.
Since 2013 CNH Industrial has extended the project to two facilities in Africa (specifically in Ethiopia and South Africa) and introduced the TechPro² also in China to meet the increasing demand for employment.
FCA introduced the program in the Philippines in 2014.
At the end of 2015, the TechPro² training offering was extended to automotive and farming machinery servicing and mechanics. The young technicians can now again perfect their vehicle servicing and repairing skills and obtain a vocational school diploma from Istituto Gerini in Roma after attending a generic three-year programme and a specialised fourth year of studies.
The FCA programme is complemented with the creation of a new profile called TechPro² “Racing Team Technician”. The operation, jointly started with Abarth, includes a specific train-the-trainer programme focusing on “basic racing car mechanics and mechatronics” and the introduction of a 100-hour training module.
¹A Service Advisor is a person within the Group who is responsible for performing preliminary inspections on vehicles and for customer relationships.
[ THE FIGURES OF A SUCCESS ]
THE FIGURES OF A SUCCESS
2008: TechPro² is born from the agreement between CNOS-FAP and Fiat Group Automobiles FGA
2009: Launch of the programme broken down into three phases: procurement, training, internships and promoting certified students within the service network. International development of the project with the inauguration of centres in Spain, Poland and Brazil with 2,150 trained young people, 700,000 hours of training provided, and 750 dealerships involved in internship offers. In a partnership with IVECO, renovation of the El Obeid (Darfur) school with vehicles donated for the Cairo (Egypt) and Sudan (Darfur) institutes for the practical activities comprised in the training courses. Training of approximately 50 specialists. Launch of the 1st edition of the “TechPro² Award”, an initiative reserved for the student demonstrating to have best absorbed both the theoretical and practical aspects of the course.
2010: International expansion of the project: 2 centres in Argentina and another 6 centres in Italy and 2 in Brazil were inaugurated. Eighty teachers were trained with the "Train the Trainer" programme with 1,530 pupils involved, more than 960,000 hours of training provided, 4,400 square metres of laboratories dedicated to the programme and about 4,900 dealerships offering internships. The project was extended to the "bodyshop" area through a dedicated programme. In partnership with IVECO, technical equipment and support were supplied to train teachers of the Don Bosco School in Cairo.
2011: Further extension of the international scope of the project to Uruguay, taking the total number of centres up to 51 with 2,600 students who took part in the professional training course (+68% compared to 2010), and 1.6 million hours of training provided in seven different languages. Dissemination of "guidelines" to standardise the approach and type of training services offered around the world, aimed at ensuring continuous communication between the professional schools and dealerships, in this way meeting the specific needs of the various local environments. Second- and third-year Italian students were offered 278 internships, 36% of which were held at Fiat Group Automobiles dealerships and workshops. CNH Industrial started up its first TechPro² centre at the Salesian Institute of Fossano (CN), Italy. The training programme offered both a two-year bodywork repair course and a three-year motor vehicle repair course.
2012: The new memorandum of understanding between Fiat Group Automobiles and the Centro Nazionale Opere Salesiane - Formazione Aggiornamento Professionale (National Centre of Salesian Works for Vocational Training and Refresher Courses) (CNOS-FAP) was signed. Launch of the "Service Advisor" pilot initiative, with a training programme that adds relational behaviour skills to technical skills. 3,700 students took part in the programme with over 2.2 million training hours. Inauguration of the Technical Training Center in Chinchwad, in the region of Pune (India). Modernisation with new diagnostic equipment for the TechPro² centres in Europe. Development of the basic level of the "Train the Trainer" course: introduction of an advanced course.
2013: Activation of the Kurs "Przyjmujący" project in Poland with the adoption of the new "Service Advisor" training module, considered a sound completion of the programmes for third-year students and an important element for completing the course of studies. Start-up of the "Virtual Classroom" initiative to strengthen the student-training centre-authorised network contact potentials, and focus on student internship planning aspects and the sharing of new opportunities for the network and the students. In India, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL) started up the programme called 'Disksha' in collaboration with the "Don Bosco Vyawasaik Prashikshan Kendra (DBVPK)" (Pune). The technical training course attended by 20 students and dedicated to industrial engines and vehicles and earth-moving machinery, supported by Iveco and New Holland Construction, got off to a start in Ethiopia at Bosco Children in Addis Abeba. In Italy, the TechPro² centre in Fossano (CN) dedicated to commercial vehicles recorded 97% qualified students. A 320-hour internship was offered to third-year pupils at local workshops, of whom 78% attained an assessment higher than 80/100. Of the students of the three-year car repair course who qualified in June 2012, 63% continued their studies or found jobs, while the other are seeking employment.
2014: CNH Industrial has launched its TechPro² Course at Changshan Vocational School in Hangzhou, China. More than a hundred students will undertake a three-year course specialising in diesel mechanics and car body repair. The school and its automotive division have received numerous awards from Zhejiang province and the city of Quzhou. The city has named the automotive department at Changshan Vocational School a “Centre for Business Education”. In Ethiopia, 100% of TechPro² graduates have gone on to find work. The Bosco Children Center in Addis Abeba has been supplied with two additional engines for teaching purposes. FCA has also launched its programme in the Philippines at the Don Bosco TVET centres in Makati City and Tondo (Manila). The centres offer young people the chance to attend professional and technical training courses accredited by TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Training Authority). In India, the “Don Bosco Vyawasaik Kendra Prashikshan” centre has launched a “Service Advisor” training course to promote the development of interpersonal skills. Two new centres in Argentina have joined the project: the Don Bosco professional training centre in Rodeo del Medio (Mendoza) and the “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” centre in Concepción. In Argentina, the TechPro² programme has been expanded, with a new focus on vehicle diagnostics and systems for natural gas vehicles. The first international internship under the project “International Educational Mobility for Young People” has also been launched. Several students from the CNOS-FAP professional training institute in Brescia, Italy, travelled to Spain for the chance to experience life as an expert technician at the Italian Motor Village FCA in Valencia.
2015:
On 23 April CNH Industrial opens a new TechPro² training course in South Africa. Twelve students start attending the Don Bosco Educational Projects School in Ennerdale (Johannesburg).
A specific vocational training course focusing on farming machinery is activated in Rome, Italy, in a CNOS-FAP school. After three years of generic training, the young students attend a one-year programme during which they can get hands-on experience by practising on the farming vehicles made available for the purpose, familiarise with controls and operation in the cab and specialise in the technical features of agricultural machinery. The FCA programme is complemented with a new operation in collaboration with Abarth to create a new profile called “Racing Team Technician”.
The "TechPro² Award" ceremony takes place on 7 and 8 May 2015 during the "World Skills Olympics". A challenge, organised by CNOS-FAP for the National Vocational Sector Masterpiece Competition, is inviting competitors to make a masterpiece to showcase their skills and convince the jury panel that they can successfully deal with any situation arising at work.
FCA and CNH Industrial are at Expo Milano 2015 in the “Cereals and Tubers” Cluster with an operation called “Alimentiamo il talento” (Feed the talent). The goal is to present the training programmes designed to help youths gain technical knowledge and prepare them for future jobs in the automotive and industrial sectors. Teachers, students and representatives from FCA and CNH Industrial illustrated the details of the various programmes. A group of young students gave a live demonstration of the TechPro² programme by assembling and disassembling a power unit.
A PROJECT EVOLVING CONTINUOUSLY
In order to meet the demand for new qualified professionals in the automotive sector, FCA developed a pilot project in Italy during 2012 to complement the training programme by adding new topics focusing on behavioural – in addition to technical – skills. A specific training module was designed to facilitate the acquisition of technical and business skills for "Service Advisors"¹, who are important figures in the area of customer management.
The operation, which was kicked off in 2012, attracted interest from other TechPro² centres in Europe and worldwide. In 2013, Poland came to the forefront with the activation of the Kurs "Przyjmujący" project, which included the new training module, considered a sound addition to the programmes for third-year students and an important element for completing the course of studies.
A programme called "Diksha" was started in India aimed at providing vocational education and technical training to local youths. The primary objective of the programme was to provide help to poor and disadvantaged students, who would otherwise not have access to good schools.
Since 2013 CNH Industrial has extended the project to two facilities in Africa (specifically in Ethiopia and South Africa) and introduced the TechPro² also in China to meet the increasing demand for employment.
FCA introduced the program in the Philippines in 2014.
At the end of 2015, the TechPro² training offering was extended to automotive and farming machinery servicing and mechanics. The young technicians can now again perfect their vehicle servicing and repairing skills and obtain a vocational school diploma from Istituto Gerini in Roma after attending a generic three-year programme and a specialised fourth year of studies.
The FCA programme is complemented with the creation of a new profile called TechPro² “Racing Team Technician”. The operation, jointly started with Abarth, includes a specific train-the-trainer programme focusing on “basic racing car mechanics and mechatronics” and the introduction of a 100-hour training module.
¹A Service Advisor is a person within the Group who is responsible for performing preliminary inspections on vehicles and for customer relationships.
THE FIGURES OF A SUCCESS
2008: TechPro² is born from the agreement between CNOS-FAP and Fiat Group Automobiles FGA
2009: Launch of the programme broken down into three phases: procurement, training, internships and promoting certified students within the service network. International development of the project with the inauguration of centres in Spain, Poland and Brazil with 2,150 trained young people, 700,000 hours of training provided, and 750 dealerships involved in internship offers. In a partnership with IVECO, renovation of the El Obeid (Darfur) school with vehicles donated for the Cairo (Egypt) and Sudan (Darfur) institutes for the practical activities comprised in the training courses. Training of approximately 50 specialists. Launch of the 1st edition of the “TechPro² Award”, an initiative reserved for the student demonstrating to have best absorbed both the theoretical and practical aspects of the course.
2010: International expansion of the project: 2 centres in Argentina and another 6 centres in Italy and 2 in Brazil were inaugurated. Eighty teachers were trained with the "Train the Trainer" programme with 1,530 pupils involved, more than 960,000 hours of training provided, 4,400 square metres of laboratories dedicated to the programme and about 4,900 dealerships offering internships. The project was extended to the "bodyshop" area through a dedicated programme. In partnership with IVECO, technical equipment and support were supplied to train teachers of the Don Bosco School in Cairo.
2011: Further extension of the international scope of the project to Uruguay, taking the total number of centres up to 51 with 2,600 students who took part in the professional training course (+68% compared to 2010), and 1.6 million hours of training provided in seven different languages. Dissemination of "guidelines" to standardise the approach and type of training services offered around the world, aimed at ensuring continuous communication between the professional schools and dealerships, in this way meeting the specific needs of the various local environments. Second- and third-year Italian students were offered 278 internships, 36% of which were held at Fiat Group Automobiles dealerships and workshops. CNH Industrial started up its first TechPro² centre at the Salesian Institute of Fossano (CN), Italy. The training programme offered both a two-year bodywork repair course and a three-year motor vehicle repair course.
2012: The new memorandum of understanding between Fiat Group Automobiles and the Centro Nazionale Opere Salesiane - Formazione Aggiornamento Professionale (National Centre of Salesian Works for Vocational Training and Refresher Courses) (CNOS-FAP) was signed. Launch of the "Service Advisor" pilot initiative, with a training programme that adds relational behaviour skills to technical skills. 3,700 students took part in the programme with over 2.2 million training hours. Inauguration of the Technical Training Center in Chinchwad, in the region of Pune (India). Modernisation with new diagnostic equipment for the TechPro² centres in Europe. Development of the basic level of the "Train the Trainer" course: introduction of an advanced course.
2013: Activation of the Kurs "Przyjmujący" project in Poland with the adoption of the new "Service Advisor" training module, considered a sound completion of the programmes for third-year students and an important element for completing the course of studies. Start-up of the "Virtual Classroom" initiative to strengthen the student-training centre-authorised network contact potentials, and focus on student internship planning aspects and the sharing of new opportunities for the network and the students. In India, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL) started up the programme called 'Disksha' in collaboration with the "Don Bosco Vyawasaik Prashikshan Kendra (DBVPK)" (Pune). The technical training course attended by 20 students and dedicated to industrial engines and vehicles and earth-moving machinery, supported by Iveco and New Holland Construction, got off to a start in Ethiopia at Bosco Children in Addis Abeba. In Italy, the TechPro² centre in Fossano (CN) dedicated to commercial vehicles recorded 97% qualified students. A 320-hour internship was offered to third-year pupils at local workshops, of whom 78% attained an assessment higher than 80/100. Of the students of the three-year car repair course who qualified in June 2012, 63% continued their studies or found jobs, while the other are seeking employment.
2014: CNH Industrial has launched its TechPro² Course at Changshan Vocational School in Hangzhou, China. More than a hundred students will undertake a three-year course specialising in diesel mechanics and car body repair. The school and its automotive division have received numerous awards from Zhejiang province and the city of Quzhou. The city has named the automotive department at Changshan Vocational School a “Centre for Business Education”. In Ethiopia, 100% of TechPro² graduates have gone on to find work. The Bosco Children Center in Addis Abeba has been supplied with two additional engines for teaching purposes. FCA has also launched its programme in the Philippines at the Don Bosco TVET centres in Makati City and Tondo (Manila). The centres offer young people the chance to attend professional and technical training courses accredited by TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Training Authority). In India, the “Don Bosco Vyawasaik Kendra Prashikshan” centre has launched a “Service Advisor” training course to promote the development of interpersonal skills. Two new centres in Argentina have joined the project: the Don Bosco professional training centre in Rodeo del Medio (Mendoza) and the “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” centre in Concepción. In Argentina, the TechPro² programme has been expanded, with a new focus on vehicle diagnostics and systems for natural gas vehicles. The first international internship under the project “International Educational Mobility for Young People” has also been launched. Several students from the CNOS-FAP professional training institute in Brescia, Italy, travelled to Spain for the chance to experience life as an expert technician at the Italian Motor Village FCA in Valencia.
2015:
On 23 April CNH Industrial opens a new TechPro² training course in South Africa. Twelve students start attending the Don Bosco Educational Projects School in Ennerdale (Johannesburg).
A specific vocational training course focusing on farming machinery is activated in Rome, Italy, in a CNOS-FAP school. After three years of generic training, the young students attend a one-year programme during which they can get hands-on experience by practising on the farming vehicles made available for the purpose, familiarise with controls and operation in the cab and specialise in the technical features of agricultural machinery. The FCA programme is complemented with a new operation in collaboration with Abarth to create a new profile called “Racing Team Technician”.
The "TechPro² Award" ceremony takes place on 7 and 8 May 2015 during the "World Skills Olympics". A challenge, organised by CNOS-FAP for the National Vocational Sector Masterpiece Competition, is inviting competitors to make a masterpiece to showcase their skills and convince the jury panel that they can successfully deal with any situation arising at work.
FCA and CNH Industrial are at Expo Milano 2015 in the “Cereals and Tubers” Cluster with an operation called “Alimentiamo il talento” (Feed the talent). The goal is to present the training programmes designed to help youths gain technical knowledge and prepare them for future jobs in the automotive and industrial sectors. Teachers, students and representatives from FCA and CNH Industrial illustrated the details of the various programmes. A group of young students gave a live demonstration of the TechPro² programme by assembling and disassembling a power unit.
AN INTERNATIONAL APPROACH
There are 58 sites around the world where courses to train technicians for the workshop network of FCA and CNH Industrial Groups are held.
Continuous investments have been made over the years to diversify the training offer in the different countries and to shape it to local needs, with the aim of offering young people a qualification that will help them in the job market in order to meet the specialised labour demands of the brands' workshops and dealerships.
The 40 TechPro² sites in Europe offer bodywork and motor vehicle repair courses. They have been enlarged and modernised over the years with advanced instruments for performing practical activities.
The Salesian Institute in Belèm, Brazil offers professional courses to make it easier for young people to enter the job market in the field of motor vehicle repairs.
In Ethiopia, Bosco Children in Addis Abeba offers the technical training course in the field of mechatronics for the industrial vehicle sector.
TechPro² at Changshan Vocational School in China will help to promote the level of local vocational education services and foster professional development of the youth in Changshan County.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
The educational programme contemplates apprenticeships and internships at network workshops.This allows the youngsters involved to develop solid technical and professional competence and at the same time to gain important experience in the field.
To that end, over the years a number of actions targeted at increasing and improving relations between the training centres and authorised Group networks have been carried out in order to identify new job opportunities. Moreover, the basic level of the courses has been reinforced with the introduction and offering of advanced courses on diagnostic equipment for workshops and gas supply systems for vehicles, with special attention focused on environmental issues.
This has made it possible to quickly update and expand the training offer in response to vehicle development and allow TechPro² to train future professionals, acting as a liaison between the training system and job opportunities in the areas of after-sales service.