Word: pechiney
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Only Two Words. Pechiney was founded as a small chemical firm in 1855, named after an early director, A. R. Pechiney. Later it switched from chemicals, became one of the first manufacturers of aluminum, rapidly expanded. It was hard hit during World War II; its technology fell behind U.S. companies, and retreating German soldiers sabotaged its factories. But Pechiney poured all its money and effort into rebuilding, expansion, modernization, last year did $300 million worth of business through its French complex and 50 affiliates and subsidiaries around the world...
...corporate pieces are skillfully manipulated by an expert chess player named Count Raoul Joseph-Marie de Vitry d'Avaucourt, 64, Pechiney's chief since the end of World War II and the antithesis of the tradition-bound European businessman. De Vitry (he does not use his title) began at the bottom at Pechiney, was decorated for fighting in the Resistance during the war, has made Pechiney's headquarters at 23 Rue Balzac in Paris as modern as his views about industry. "My motto," he says, "consists of two words: audacity and measure...
...with Tradition. De Vitry has been audacious in research, now spends more than 5% of Pechiney's gross on research, higher than other European companies. The company has done so well that it sells many of its processes abroad to Alcoa and other U.S. firms, has sent engineers to five continents to help construct aluminum and chemical plants. Raoul de Vitry has led Pechiney back into chemicals in force; the firm has built up a whole new range of products-plastics, fertilizers, petrochemicals, synthetic fibers. Last year it raised its exports 50%, to 33% of total sales...
...break up the rigid hierarchical structure that Pechiney shared with many European businesses, De Vitry gave the firm a divisional setup much like General Motors', streamlined administration, pruned departments that had only tradition to recommend them. He brought in young men, gave them a great deal of liberty. Says he: "I think that confidence produces far better results than surveillance." In addition to a productivity bonus that nets employees an average 30% over their base pay, Pechiney last Christmas gave employees nearly 32,000 shares worth $2,000,000 on the Paris Bourse...
...Vitry, who has ten children ranging from 16 to 35 (none of whom joined Pechiney), likes to ride horseback or listen to classical music with them and his wife at their ten-room apartment near the Etoile. Like many other executives, he scorns the head office as a "center of un-productivity," spends two or three months a year traveling over the world inspecting Pechiney's plants...