15 Facts About Adriano Olivetti

1.

Adriano Olivetti was an Italian engineer, politician, and industrialist whose entrepreneurial activity thrived on the idea that profit should be reinvested for the benefits of the whole society.

2.

Adriano Olivetti was son of the founder of Olivetti, Camillo Olivetti, and Luisa Revel, the daughter of a prominent Waldensian pastor and scholar.

3.

Adriano Olivetti was known worldwide during his lifetime as the Italian manufacturer of Olivetti typewriters, calculators, and computers.

4.

Adriano Olivetti was an entrepreneur and innovator who transformed shop-like operations into a modern factory.

5.

The discipline and sobriety the older Adriano Olivetti imposed on his family induced rebellion in the younger Adriano Olivetti's adolescence manifested by a dislike of his father's workplace and by his studying at a polytechnic school of subjects other than the mechanical engineering that his father wanted.

6.

Adriano Olivetti's visit to various plants in the United States, especially Remington, convinced Olivetti that productivity is a function of the organizational system.

7.

Adriano Olivetti shared with his workers the productivity gains by increasing salaries, fringe benefits, and services.

8.

In 1931, he visited the Soviet Union and created an Advertising Department at Adriano Olivetti that worked with artists and designers.

9.

Adriano Olivetti supervised a housing plan for the workers at Ivrea, a small city near Turin, where the Olivetti plant is still located, and a zoning proposal for the adjacent Aosta Valley.

10.

Adriano Olivetti had contacts with representatives of Britain's Special Operations Executive.

11.

Adriano Olivetti shared his time between business pursuits and attempts to practice and spread the utopian ideal of community life.

12.

Adriano Olivetti's belief was that people who respect each other and their environment can avoid war and poverty.

13.

Adriano Olivetti decreased the hours of work and increased salaries and fringe benefits.

14.

Adriano Olivetti's corporatism succeeded in having his workers accept a company union not tied to the powerful national metallurgical trade unions.

15.

Adriano Olivetti's era saw great changes in Italian business and in industrial relations.