Diary from Milano

Diary from the teambuilding course in Milano, Italy
Participants: Teachers from the Italian schools, Maxwell and Settembrini, and the Danish school in Herning

Monday 08.11.99
Photo: The Settembrini school Photo: The Settembrini teachers	Unfortunately the day started by being late for about twenty minutes. We were very sorry because we wished to make a good impression from the start, but we were unaware of the distance between the school and our hotel. In spite of that the reception was very gentle. We were received by the vice-president, and the teachers. There were a brief presentation of our partners in the project. After that we went to the class-room on the fourth floor (by lift). The school were shown to us so we could find our way around.
Then we started working. We received the first e-mail and started to work on the presentation of our company. We received a phone call from Prague, telling us that their e-mail system was down, and we have to minimise our presentation ex. by not sending pictures. There was a discussion about the concept, but we made the presentation as good as we could under the circumstances. The presentation was sent to Holding company.
Tuesday 09.11.99
Photo: Busy teachers	We received e-mail no. 2 where we happily saw that we were accepted as sub-suppliers. Then we started to learn about using the video-conference system. We were in contact with our partners in Poland and Prague. Then we received e-mail no. 3, which told what element we should prepare to produce, and we were asked to contact our partners in order to make the necessary agreements about measures and tolerances. There was a lively communication between us and our partners about the manufacturing of the parts of the cube. We used e-mail, video-telephone, whiteboard etc.
Wednesday 10.11.99
During the day there was a heavy activity about making drawings, changing agreements, making measuring form and operation description. The day was very hectic because we ran into e-mail problems. It took very long time to receive e-mails from our partners, which made us insecure of whether they had received ours or not. The day was very long, and we first finished about 06.00 p.m.
Thursday 11.11.99
The fourth e-mail was received about the production, and it was a bit of a surprise for our Italian friends that they were not to produce the part they had made the drawings to, but another part. That caused some frustrations. The school had only one milling machine in operation, which gave us a production problem, especially because 3 groups had to share this machine. We started the production but had to realise that we couldn’t make all the items within the limited time. Therefore we called holding and made an agreement that we could reduce the production to two items per group. In the afternoon we received e-mail no. 5 about reporting, which we started to do. About 06.00 p.m. the production was finished, and we went happily home.
Tuesday 16.11.99
There was a change in our program, so the day started with a company visit. We were visiting a company called VRV s.p.a. which was situated at via Burago, 24, 20060, Ornago, Milan, Italy. We were received by the general manager Mr. Guido Cipolloni, and he explained us about the company’s production which were pressure vessels and equipment. After that there was a tour round the factory. It was a very interesting and well planned visit which we would like to express our gratitude for. Also the discussion afterwards about young people's behaviour and about the differences in the education systems was very interesting. After returning to the school we made an evaluation of the weekend-tour to and programme in Prague.
Wednesday 17.11.99
Steen and Jan: The reporting was finished and the conclusions made before lunch. Hans Kurt: HK went together with Andrea and Salvatore to the company Sidam s.r.l., via Fabio filzi 37, 20032, Cormano, Italy in order to install the Pro Share system at their computer. After the installation we tried to call the Danish mother company GRAM but they had some difficulties with their computer. Instead we called Herning Tekniske Skole and contact was made. We also tried to call Poland and Settembrini and it worked out fine.	Then we went to the Maxwell school were we were received by the general manager. He invited us to late lunch, and during the lunch we were discussing the Leonardo 2 project and The Global Village project. He was very interested and assured us that the school would be ready before the time limit (25.01.2000). He promised us that he will be present at the meeting in Herning in February. After lunch there was a tour round the school. Photo: The Maxwell teachers
Thursday 18.11.99
The whole group visited Sidam, were we gave a demonstration of the Pro Share system, and we made contact with Niels in Poland. After that there was a tour round the factory. Photo: Sidam After returning to the school it was time to say officially goodbye to our Italian friends and presents were exchanged. Then for the first time on this tour we had time to visit Milan as tourist – for about three hours. Finally we had an invitation from the Headmaster of Settembrini to have dinner with him and the rest of the group. That was a very good experience and very cosy. Finally Hans Kurt made a speech in which we thanked for the fine way we had been treated.