5. Human Resource Development to Support Sustainable Growth
[1] Establishment of DENSO School (ESCOLA DENSO) and skills training
DNBR had been providing in-house skills training led by engineers transferred from DENSO Headquarters since 1987, yet this program ceased at some point due to the replacement of the responsible person.
At the same time, production volume increased, the range of items produced expanded, and the products and production equipment became more sophisticated. Against a backdrop of a demand for a higher level of skill among local production associates, Michio Amano, who had assumed the position of President & CEO of DNBR in 1998, decided to establish a school to conduct apprenticeships [training & practicing] that would both educate associates and be welcome by the local area.
His real intention was to “establish a dignified school that would endure in order to develop human resources and contribute to Brazil.”
Experts from local manufacturing plants and local managers made every effort in establishing the DENSO School. Their enthusiasm also reached the DENSO E & TS Training Center, and DNBR advanced preparations for the school with the Center’s extensive support. In August 2001, DNBR completed a single-story, 800 m2 facility dedicated to the DENSO School on the grounds of the Curitiba Plant after receiving a grant-in-aid from Paraná, Brazil, which approved of the goals of the project.
The DENSO School recruited 10 to 20 high school graduates every year, and conducted an approximately one-year long mechatronics training course. In addition, DNBR also worked with a local vocational school, making active use of its instructors, as well as its lathes and other expensive equipment. Graduates have included the winners of the Paraná State Technical Competition, the winners of DENSO Muran (an idea contest organized by the DENSO Technology Association) held at DENSO Headquarters, and the winners of the Technical Skills Competition organized by SENAI (National Service for Industrial Training of Brazil). This initiative also opened a path for talented human resources to be recruited as associates, and built a reputation for allowing DNBR associates who wished their children to work for DENSO to compete against each other in having their children attend the school.