MCV Experience in the Field of Vocational Education and Training as a Part of Social Responsibility (CSR) System
Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles "MCV Co." was established in 1994 to represent Mercedes Benz in the thriving commercial vehicle sector in Egypt. The start was by a richly talented team of pioneers. Their experiences and roles were diverse: automotive engineers, designers and businessmen. They shared one vision "to design and build the best buses and trucks in Egypt and the Middle East". With the experience and the diverse technological know-how of one of the automotive world’s truly great names, MCV has become the local market leader in the manufacture of Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles. MCV produces a complete range of buses, from the intra-city runabout to the luxury palace on wheels; and trucks in every size, with as many different superstructures as there are different tasks to perform. By using the established networks of Mercedes-Benz, MCV is already exporting buses to the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe.
The manpower development programs, within MCV, get paramount importance and form the main pillar of our corporate policy. These programs is helping to develop employees to serve the customer needs better. From the beginning MCV had given a very great concern to social responsibility. Accordingly it had developed a CSR strategy which has been implemented through the years to confirm MCV consideration to all its internal and external stakeholders. Two main areas of MCV's CSR strategy are employee training & development and vocational education & training.
Employee Training & Development
MCV had given a very special concern to the development of its employees, as it realizes that the human element is the main fortune in the organization. Based on this concept, the training department works within the company and yearly develops a training plan based on training needs assessment indicating the real training needed for each employee to develop his skills. MCV's yearly budget allocated for employee training and development exceeds 1,500,000 EGP and the average number of trainees during the last five years is 1,900 trainees. In year 2009, a total of 36,200 training hours had been delivered for more than 2,000 employees. The introduced trainings covers all the acquired skills, directly and indirectly related to the product quality, including management and supervisory training; leadership; job related technical skills; languages and IT skills.
Every employee at MCV undergoes an induction training which aims to develop his awareness about the company's policies and procedure, in addition to the on-the-job training delivered by his direct manager. On the other side, every new technician undergoes a one month condensed vocational training program in our state of art training center located in our factory. This training center has trained so far about 2,500 employees on welding and filing occupations and measurement tools usage.
Vocational Education & Training
As MCV believes that its development starts from developing the surrounding society, it was decided to contribute to the society’s learning and education, as it's the main factor affecting the society development. In year 2000, MCV cooperating with the Ministry of Education started to implement a vocational education project under the umbrella of Mubarak-Kuhl dual vocational education national project. The project aims to train school students inside the company on four main vocations:
1. Administrator assistant
2. Automotive mechanics
3. Automotive body repair & painting
4. Industrial mechanics
The students receive a real life practical training for 208 days in each year for three years and they are trained in almost of all the company departments. Since the project start, a total of 330 students had been trained in MCV. 20 of them, who showed outstanding performance, were recruited to work during their university education. MCV gives a very special care to all students, including receiving a pre-specified monthly salary beside a monthly bonus, motivating them, ensuring their safety, making sure they enjoy the adequate learning environment and providing job opportunities for outstanding students after they finish their vocational education as well as during their university education.
In year 2008, MCV had a very important forward step in the area of vocational education by opening MCV Vocational School for dual education and training. The school's main goal is to help the society around the factory find a future job opportunity for their children after completing a three-year study, combining the theoretical studies received at school with more condensed practical training at MCV factories. The school currently has one section for "Automotive Body Repair & Painting" occupation and 85 students spread on three school years. Students weekly receive one day of theoretical study at school and five days of practical training at the MCV factories. The theoretical study is provided by Ministry of Education; meanwhile the practical training is planned by MCV. MCV School has been chosen by the Ministry of Education as a successful model for implementing the dual system of vocational education. Based on the trust of the education quality introduced, MCV have decided to open another vocational school specialized in Automotive maintenance. The school was opened in 2010 joining 22 students in one section, and located in the Headquarter premises. Students go under 3 years of the most updated theoretical and practical study, which leads them to be graduated as automotive maintenance technicians. They receive practical training with the aid of company technicians and engineers using the most updated technology used in the field.
