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Paolo
Pininfarina and the Portuguese Minister of Economy and
Innovation, Manuel Pinho, last week inaugurated CEIIA
(Centro para a Excêlencia e Innovacão na Indústria Automóvel),
an engineering centre ordered by the Portuguese government
and funded by the EU, at Moreira da Maia, 10 km from Porto.
The Pininfarina Group acted as consultants for the
establishment of this new facility.
CEIIA will
conceive, promote and carry out engineering and product
development operations for the Portuguese automotive and
aircraft industry based on R & D and the transfer of
technology through realisation of the full value of its
human resources.
"The initiative", says Paolo Pininfarina,
member of the Board of the Pininfarina Group, "is designed
to promote the skills and capabilities of Portuguese firms
in the engineering and product development fields by
creating the conditions for their participation in complete
programmes comprising conception and production, and the
transfer of know-how to local enterprises".
Pininfarina became involved in the CEIIA project in February
2001 when a Memorandum of Understanding with the Portuguese
Government was signed for the provision by the Group's
Special Projects Division at Cambiano, near Turin, of
consultancy services across the board: from definition of
the Centre's business model and strategy to active
participation in the selection of its staff, from product
and process development to corporate organisation, from
quality and business continuity procedures to the training
of human resources, from training on the job on a special
vehicle to understanding CAD, CAE and PDM methods, reverse
engineering, definition of surfaces and homologation and
legislation, with the features associated with
experimentation. |
