Word: pechiney
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...your March 14 article on the French aluminum and chemical company, Pechiney: this article summarizes in the most vivid way the activity of our company. However, I must point out an error regarding our activity in Cameroon. The aluminum plant belonging to the Compagnie Cam-erounaise de l'Aluminum Pechiney/Ugine is exclusively in the hands of French and Belgian shareholders [not shared with Olin-Mathieson]. On the other hand, Olin-Mathieson is an important shareholder of FRIA, which produces alumina from local bauxite in Guinea; other shareholders in the company, in addition to our French group, are English, German...
...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...
Into Position. Pechiney is busily moving into position to take advantage of the Common Market. As Europe's standard of living rises, demand for Pechiney's chemicals and aluminum is bound to rise apace. When exports slack off, the company can always intensify its efforts to sell at home, where aluminum consumption is still low (7 lbs. per person v. 21 lbs. in the U.S.). When the domestic market slackens, it need only expand its export market. There, it sells aluminum at about 8% lower than U.S. and Canadian competitors...