local practice and the methods with which
he is familiar at home.
Popular yearly seminars
Aside from brewing technicalities there
are also Training Within Industry (TWI)
courses offered by the British Manpower
Services Commission covering subjects of
common interest to all large commercial
organizations, notably communications,
safety and management techniques.
In addition there are yearly seminars in
Dutch and in English. Each caters for up to
20 students and lasts one week during
which latest developments in the brewing
technical field are the subjects of lectures
by specialists and are subsequently discus
sed.
Apart from keeping all concerned abreast
of technical matters, these occasions are
popular as a means of meeting friends and
colleagues from all parts of the world.
Another facet of training is provision for
Dutch recruits to Heineken in Holland.
They may be groomed for engineering
management duties, in which case they ta
ke a course lasting a year; or they may be
engaged on an 18 months' curriculum de
voted to brewing technology. Part of the
schedule may be spent in various depart
ments in breweries in Holland, and trai
nees often gain much valuable experience
by standing in for executives on holiday.
The worldwide spread of Heineken opera
tions is illustrated by the variety of nation
alities represented in Zoeterwoude train
ing courses at any one time. During a
recent CONTACT visit there were, typi
cally, a number of Nigerians, a man from
Trinidad, another from Singapore, two
from Papua New Guinea and a Frenchman
from Tahiti. Their application to the job in
hand was evident and all were particularly
appreciative of visits to outside factories.
These they agreed were invaluable.
Adapting to local food caused some pro
blems but these were generally offset by
visits to Amsterdam, a city noted for the
variety of its cosmopolitan cuisine!
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