Leader Training by the AGC Group

Leaders of global enterprises must have a range of leadership skills and abilities based on the value of diversity. In order to develop human resources who can become the future leaders of the Group, we are globally educating employees in our leader training programs as outlined in Fig. 1, irrespective of nationality and gender.
In fiscal 2011 and onwards, in order to foster the localization of business management at Group companies in Asia, we will provide the local staff of these companies with practical training in an accelerated manner in Japan.

The AGC Group's Leader Training Programs

The AGC Group's Employee Education System

The AGC Group identifies the technologies and skills required at each workplace and provides stratified training and also training on specific technologies to develop "human assets"*1 who will enhance and transfer technologies and skills or who have high expertise to lead the launch of new business. Stratified training includes training on compliance, quality, the environment, safety, information security, and leadership. Training on specific technologies includes seminars on glass melting technology and on advanced organic chemistry.
Moreover, training programs to meet each In-house Company's challenges have been enhanced. Specifically, the AGC Glass Company trains its core members working at its plants in Europe, North America, and Asia on manufacturing practices based on its globally common values and methods at the Global Training Center. The AGC Electronics Company provides original seminars on technologies commonly used within the company to utilize its human assets in an appropriate but more flexible manner. The AGC Chemicals Company has independently established a training center to provide employees with education and training for the safe and stable operation of its chemical facilities.

*1 Here we use "human assets" instead of "human resources" based on the idea that people make the company.

Annual Per-capita Training Hours at the AGC Group (Japan)^*2

FY	Annual training hours (hours/person)
2008	11.3
2009	12.0
2010	10.6�¦3

*2 Training hours include the hours spent in the education on technologies and skills and stratified educational seminars given at the AGC Monozukuri Center but do not include the hours spent in the training provided independently by each department or in external training.
*3 Training hours in 2010 are shorter than in previous years due to efficiency improvements in the educational program for new employees, etc.

Training and Education Building

AGC Group opened the AGC Monozukuri Training Center in 2006. This center identifies the educational challenges on technologies and skills, and develops and supports human resources who can contribute to the successful implementation of the Group's business strategies.
"actual workplace," "actual work," and "reality of workplace conditions." This building, equipped with machines and equipment similar to those actually used in AGC Group plants, provides trainees with hands-on learning opportunities. For example, they learn the structure of a furnace and its troubleshooting methods, which they would not be able to learn in their daily work at plants. In the seminars and practical training sessions, trainers interact and communicate with trainees in such a way as to encourage trainees to gain the feel of the work, and to think independently and creatively. The Center provides more than 150 seminars for the AGC Group companies in Asia including Japan and also holds seminars for cooperating companies, with a view to fostering quality manufacturing and human resources development throughout the chain.

Accommodation facility at the AGC Monozukuri Training Center

Number of Users at the Monozukuri Training Center

FY	Number
2008	30,044
2009	31,029
2010	29,664

Helping Employees Become High Performers

To develop a corporate foundation and culture that will encourage employees to be high performers*4 the AGC Group is working to provide them with opportunities to (1) learn; (2) develop themselves; and (3) exercise their abilities through study groups established beyond the boundaries of the In-house Companies. For example, we provide employees of our flat glass manufacturing facilities with an opportunity to experience cold repair*5 of melting furnace at other plants and learn from more experienced employees, because cold repair might not be carried out for next 10 or more years at their own facilities. Also through the promotion of the AGC Group improvement activities*6 and enhancement of the award system, we will foster the development, leadership and skills of "human assets" with high potential.

*4 Skilled and advanced engineers who take on the challenge of acquiring new technologies and skills.
*5 Large-scale maintenance work implemented after cooling down the melting furnace.

The AGC Group Improvement Activities

The AGC Group is promoting "daily improvement activities" and "even wider-reaching technical development" across the Group for the achievement of its organizational goals. The AGC Group improvement activities*6 are daily improvement activities to be conducted in teams formed beyond the boundaries of work processes such as those related to materials, production management, and product processing, and of job levels including managers and those on the shop floor. Employees are voluntarily engaged in these activities to attain their organizational goals, each with a clear sense of mission. To foster the activities more efficiently and effectively across the Group, we will make use of scientific methods, such as industrial engineering (IE)-based ones throughout the entire organization.

*6 In fiscal 2010, we expanded the small-group activities conventionally conducted by shop floor employees at production sites to the activities to be conducted beyond the boundaries of work processes and job levels.

Developing Human Assets in a Comprehensive Manner

To accelerate the development of human assets, AGC Group began expanding the know-how accumulated in the development and training of experienced and skilled workers to the training of employees in departments such as management and sales. Specifically, we built an employee training record system, to check their training plan and history. In fiscal 2010, we expanded the target of the system to include young engineers and also those belonging to the aforementioned departments. We will refer to the training histories recorded in this system in making new training plans and assigning human assets to appropriate positions, which will lead to further growth of the Group.