On 25th October at the Angelo Affinita Foundation, the SSA – SAPA Suppliers Academy organised a day of training for suppliers, heads of departments and technicians with the aim of sharing methods and processes to improve competitiveness on the market. Here is what happened.
If you have already read any articles from this blog (if you haven’t I strongly recommend you did, as you will find many interesting ideas for your work), you might have noticed that SAPA rests on some pillars that are the foundations of our way of doing things and that stem from our history.
Imagine a train rail, it’s very easy to do.
Our train runs on these rails that determine its trajectory and at the same time they keep it from derailing.
Since the very beginning, training and education have been the arteries that bring oxygen and vitality to our business.
We called it SAPA Suppliers Academy, please allow me to explain what it does.
Since my father, in my grandfather’s small shop, decided to come up with an innovative system that would modernise their carpentry workshop and transform it into a specialised industry, the will to train and learn has become a concrete necessity. Why? The answer is easy.
On the one hand, in order to keep up with the changes in our sector, on the other hand, to become trainers ourselves in order to create a network within a community of people that believe in innovation. Of our whole business structure, the SAPA Academy is the department that I regard as the most magical.
Clearly, by “magical” I don’t mean something that builds itself on its own nor an obscure process, but it is magical in that it is worth nothing if you don’t believe and invest in it.
Just like a spell or an amulet, just like hope: if you rely on it, it can do incredible things.
And this is what I experienced first-hand.
Over the years, we kept believing that studying processes and components closely and keeping asking ourselves questions would push us to constantly look for something better.
And by “better” I mean solutions that would increasingly meet the market requirements and at the same time our requirements, too such as saving time, having leaner processes, lightweighting the parts and all those requirements that you also have in your daily work.
And we achieved that, otherwise I would have dropped the idea.
True: having an internal department that deals with training is somewhat uncommon for a business.
Over time, however, I had proof that that was a shrewd intuition.
What does it all mean concretely?
Well, that one can never say “OK, I know it all already” and therefore you will be motivated to do better.
And that you will strive for something newer and more adequate, thus setting the bar higher and higher.
We implemented our philosophy specifically by working together with universities and particularly by creating the Affinita Award, as well as with other initiatives such as the training day I told you about above – these activities aim at creating a common ground, at sharing our methods and processes and at keeping up to date with the latest sector trends.
The training that took place on 25th October was organised precisely with these objectives in mind and many participants took part.
From 9am to 6pm, six professionals held sessions on IATF 16949 training requirements, problem solving and KPI analysis, the correct application of the PDC method through a KAIZEN module and much more.
Specifically:
- Giulia Mattia, Purchasing Director and Umberto Garofalo, Quality Director _ Introduction and Commitment
- Marco Brancaccio, Group Purchasing Specialist _ From supplier to partner
- Massimo Lombardo, Quality Assurance Manager _ IATF Directives
- Giovanna Frulio, WCM Coordinator & Support _ Problem solving
- Mimmo Peluso,WCM Coordinator _ KPI and losses
Take a look at what happened:
https://vimeo.com/371157975
Sharing objectives and results is important to us. Being together in this innovation process that gives a meaning to our work is important to us.
Hereafter you will find some pictures from the training day that I’d like to share with you.
Kind regards
Giovanni Affinita,
General Manager and Member of the Board of Directors
If you are a supplier and are interested in the training offered by the SAPA Suppliers Academy, contact us at:
supplier.academy@sapagroup.it
WE’LL GET BACK TO YOU WITHIN 24 HOURS!
