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HCI Group Announces Automotive Supplier Trainee Exchange Program

9 December 1998

HCI Group Announces International 'Automotive Supplier Trainee Exchange Program'

      HCI Group and CDS International Bring Internship Trainee Programs
         For Young German Professionals to U.S. Automotive Suppliers

           Business, Technical and Engineering Disciplines Targeted

    DETROIT, Dec. 8 -- The HCI Group today announced the creation
of the Automotive Supplier Trainee Exchange Program in a joint effort with New
York-based CDS International.  The Program will provide opportunities for
young German professionals, ages 22 to 30, to participate in internship
trainee programs with U.S. automotive supplier companies.  The trainee
programs, lasting from 3 to 18 months, will foster greater understanding for
relationships between U.S. and German business.
    "With the globalization process taking place in the automotive industry,
as evidenced by the recent Daimler-Chrysler merger, automotive suppliers need
to increase their internal 'globalization' understanding and awareness.
Suppliers now can tap into young German talent in business, technical and
engineering disciplines through these internship trainee programs.  These
internships will greatly benefit both the U.S. supplier companies, as well the
young German professionals," states Ronald Hesse, president of the HCI Group,
Ltd.  "Suppliers get trainees who are multi-lingual and understand the
business culture of Germany and Europe, while the trainee receives valuable
business and living experience in the United States."
    CDS International was founded as a non-profit organization in 1968.
Today, CDS typically serves over 1,000 individuals each year in a wide variety
of internship, fact-finding, and work-study programs, especially between the
United States and Germany.  CDS is also the United States representative of
the Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program, a highly competitive
work/study fellowship in Germany for young professionals with graduate
degrees.  Fellows from more than 40 countries worldwide, including France, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, China, India and several South
American countries have participated in the CDS program.  One of CDS' most
important partnerships is with The Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft (CDG).  CDG was
established in 1949 and is financed chiefly by the German government to foster
international exchange and personnel development between Germany and over 100
countries around the world.
    The Chicago, Ill. based HCI Group unites automotive supplier executives
with Global Experts in a variety of important business and operational subject
areas.  The company unites executives with Global Experts through the
EUROtalk, LATINtalk and AMERItalk newsletters, Automotive Globalization
Executive Seminars, Breakfast Briefings, the http://www.euroautoindustry.com web
site, TIER ONE Programs, One-on-One Meetings, the GLOBALtools product catalog,
and other informational, educational and networking processes.