The widespread organisational changes at Fiat that were announced at the end of July have now taken effect and not without some surprise departures from the supply chain and commercial departments, namely Paola Petrone (pictured left), who was senior vice president of Supply Chain Management, and Andrea Formica (pictured right), who was head of Fiat brand and Commercial.
The restructuring at Fiat, which came into effect at the beginning of September, is a direct result of the Italian carmaker taking a majority ownership of Chrysler Group and is designed to enhance the operational integration of the two companies, a logical step in the development of the merger according to Fiat.
“We have now reached the right moment to step on the accelerator of the Fiat-Chrysler integration,” said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler.
There are now four operational regions overseen by a new General Executive Council, responsible for group operating performance and strategic decisions and investments. These are Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); NAFTA; Latin America and Asia.
The reorganisation affects supply chain functions in the EMEA division, now under the remit of a new department called Parts & Service, Supply Chain & Network Development, which will be headed by Diego Pistone, following Paola Petrone’s departure last month. Pistone had also held Petrone's position before she took over in 2010.
A spokesman for Fiat said that the company had no comment to make about Petrone’s decision to leave but confirmed that her responsibilities have now been incorporated into a new department. Pistone will report to Gianni Coda, head of the EMEA division, along with 27 other executives in the management team.
Before she left Petrone was orchestrating a radical overhaul of inbound and outbound logistics at Fiat, including an expansion of its iFast Container Management subsidiary to include freight forwarding and network management currently handled by Fiat’s lead logistics providers.
Fiat has also scrapped its international division as part of the changes. Lorenzo Sistino, who headed the division, has a new role as head of Commercial Operations for the newly-created EMEA division, taking over duties from Andrea Formica who left the company last week, reportedly because he had failed to gain a top-level management position in the reshuffle. There is also speculation that his departure follows poor sales performance in Europe.
Formica replaced Sistino as head of Fiat brand and Commercial last September.
In terms of the other three regions overseen by the General Executive Council, Sergio Marchionne is taking charge of the NAFTA region, which will include Chrysler, while Latin America is led by Cledorvino Belini. Michael Manley will oversea the Asia region.
The General Executive Council will also oversee a Parts and Service (MOPAR) division, Automotive Components (mainly Magneti Marelli) and Systems and Castings (Teksid and Comau).
