He was able to admire the ultra-modern factory assembly line, the new Technical Assistance Training Centre and the entire Maserati product range, including the elegant flagship Quattroporte, in the beautiful new showroom.

Morris Cohen, an eminent Professor of Manufacturing and Logistics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, is also Director of the Fishman-Davidson Center for Services and Operations Management and an authority in research and consulting in the logistics field.

Maserati has an excellent reputation as a small-scale automotive production plant and for Customer Assistance and was chosen to participate in the ASAP (After Sales Advanced Planning) project. This project is financed by the Italian Ministry of University Training and Research and researches innovative models at strategic and operative levels in the field of After Sales Assistance. Six Italian Universities of Engineering and Economics and a selected group of industries are involved in the ASAP project which began in January 2003 and will come to an end in December 2004.

Prof. Cohen's involvement in this project led to the invitation to visit the Maserati factory in Modena.