The company aims at combating the shortage of qualified staff and has therefore opened a new trainee workshop.
Several young adults in grey shirts and trousers gather at the GKN Sinter Metals workshop. At first glance they look like skilled workers of the company – but this is not yet the case. However, they are well on their way to this stage: the young adults are trainees at the largest employer in the spa town. And they are delighted about their new trainee workshop.
“Training is the key to success,” said Thorsten Stemmermann, HR manager of the company. Therefore, GKN Sinter Metals has invested in the training of young people for many years. As in many other companies, the demographic change and the associated shortage of qualified staff is also noticeable at GKN. For this reason, the company decided to increase the number of trainees. 45 trainees are currently employed at GKN, 15 in each trainee year. “The training rate is nearly ten percent,” said Stemmermann.
The employees’ average age is just under 44 years. This seems low at first glance but a closer look shows otherwise, explained the HR manager. “In the next five years 60 employees will retire.”
This is why the company focuses on training young people. In order to combat the shortage of apprenticeship candidates, in recent months GKN has established a new training center serving as a workplace for both trainees from GKN and interns from the secondary school.
The trainees were actively involved in the development and planning of the training center and set their hands to the task. The result: two workbenches comprising six workplaces each, an area for the assembly of tables and devices, a measuring station as well as a machinery room with turning, milling and drilling machines and a training room. The trainees converted a large room, which was previously used as a workshop for electricians, into four smaller rooms in post and beam construction.
The training room is used for practical training, extra tuition and preparation for theoretical exams. The office of the training supervisors Lutz Schäfer and Johannes Kunkel is also located in the trainee workshop.
In the biggest sales crisis the focus was on training, according to plant manager Stefan Zeier. “The trainees work with enthusiasm and great respect here because they have set up the workshop themselves,” said Zeier.
The building work for the workshop started in February, said HR manager Stemmermann, who is now looking forward to the opening of the new rooms. And thanks to the support of the interns from the secondary school, who work at GKN once a week, the company was able to build everything itself. “I am very proud of this.”
The mayor, Brigitte Meyerdierks, believes that the company ties closer links with the town. The intern day played a decisive role here. “It is important for the young people to know that they are offered good prospects in Brückenau,” said Meyerdierks.