Running smoothly

Team spirit, close cooperation and a healthy helping of good humor and pleasure in your work: Those three aspects are characteristic of the atmosphere at the training workshop for industrial/technical vocations on the KWS campus. KWS trains between 16 and 24 youngsters as industrial mechanics in mechanical and plant engineering and as electronics engineers for operations technology in its workshop with its state-of-the-art equipment, large pool of machinery, classrooms and PC workstations. “We’re laying the foundation for their successful future career here,” says Manuel Adams, the head of training for industrial mechanics. His colleague Kevin Müller has been head of training for electronics engineers since March. He adds: “We also tackle the shortage of skilled workers with the training we provide.”

Nice colleagues, qualified training

Ansgar Rother and Erik Hentschel are two youngsters who are being trained so that everything will keep on running smoothly at KWS in the future. They ensure that all the production facilities and the measurement and control technology are repaired and kept well-maintained. Ansgar Rother is 19 years old and in his first year of training as an industrial mechanic, while Erik Hentschel is 22 and already in his third year of training as an electronics engineer. Both of them rave about KWS as a company to train at. “Our colleagues are really nice,” says high school graduate Ansgar Rother, and Erik Hentschel concurs: “We’re getting top-class training here.”

An enjoyment of technology

Both trainees knew from an early age that they would choose a technical vocation in later life. Ansgar Rother comes from a family that has a big passion for motorbikes. “We were always tinkering with them,” he says. And as a child Erik Hentschel loved to take apart and repair technical equipment long before he graduated from high school. They have more in common as well: The youngsters come from the Einbeck region and knew KWS and the good reputation of the training it offers while they were at school. “We wanted to join the company at all costs,” they say in unison.

Trainees in what are termed blue vocations spend their first two years almost wholly in the training workshop, where they learn the practical fundamentals of their trade and how to operate the machines. And their instructors also teach them the theoretical background knowledge for their future vocations. That foundation, in particular also the chance to get to know the machinery, is important so that the trainees can later support skilled workers vigorously and competently, emphasizes Jochen Flemnitz, the workshop’s head.

After two years in the training workshop, the trainees move to KWS’ specialist technical departments to apply and deepen their knowledge. Whether Design and Construction, Electronics, Precision Mechanics, the farm or warehouse: The trainees spend time at five to eight of the total of 12 departments during their three-and-a-half year training. A competent expert at each supervises them and provides them with support in word and deed.

Diverse and varied

Practical work is a large part of training as an industrial mechanic and electronics engineer. While the trainees go to vocational school two days a week for theoretical instruction during the first year, they attend just once week in their second to fourth years. The budding electronics engineer Erik Hentschel finds that good: “The practical part of the training here at KWS is so diverse and varied,” he says. “It just a great feeling when you have to repair something and find out what’s wrong. You need patience and perseverance. But when everything’s back up and running, that gives you a really good feeling.”

Digitization and networking are gaining ground

Maintenance and service work, finding a defect, operating state-of-the-art machinery and constructing plants and systems: Those main tasks for mechanics and electronics engineers are a growing challenge in the age of digitization. Close cooperation between both disciplines is a must. That increasingly involves networking, programming and very precise components. Mechanics and electronics work hand in hand.

That holistic approach is a common thread running through all the training KWS offers in blue vocations. And imparting knowledge is not the end of the road. Heads of training Manuel Adams and Kevin Müller feel it’s important to take time for their young colleagues and always be there to contact and speak with. After all, the trainees are young – some just 15 or 16. “And the concerns they have aren’t only job-related. We often give advice on the many small everyday things in life, too,” says Manuel Adams with a wry smile – and you can feel that he, like his colleagues, is happy to live up to his responsibility for the next generation.

Whether at the professional or interpersonal level: The blue vocation team clicks smoothly. The training workshop members would just like to see one thing: more female trainees. There’s just one young woman at the moment. “More female applicants would be really welcome,” says workshop head Jochen Flemnitz. |