Quality is in our DNA - Anlagenbau - Eisenmann SE5b5d81d6-f3d6-4ede-910d... · Quality is in our...

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ThinkTomorrow ThinkNow ThinkGreen Quality is in our DNA More data. Smarter pattern recognition. Greater quality. Car paintwork quality – appearances matter Pre-shipment testing guarantees quality The foundations of our success The Corporate Magazine N o 10 | June 2017

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ThinkTomorrow ThinkNow ThinkGreen

Quality is in our DNA

More data. Smarter pattern recognition. Greater quality.

Car paintwork quality – appearances matter

Pre-shipment testing guarantees quality

The foundations of our success

The Corporate Magazine No 10 | June 2017

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ThinkNow

ThinkGreen

ThinkTomorrow

Contents

3 | Editorial

4 | Spotlight

6 | More data. Smarter pattern recognition. Greater quality. Smart technology improves both plants and products

10 | Pre-shipment testing guarantees quality Everything comes together at the test and assembly center

12 | 65 years of quality Employee statements

14 | Who is who

15 | Appearances matter Measurement and analysis ensure high quality for the customer

18 | People & Places

Print compensatedId-No. 1659919

www.bvdm-online.de

DaVinci No 10 | June 2017 © Eisenmann SE

Circulation 9,500Publication frequency biannualPublisher Eisenmann SE, Tübinger Straße 81, 71032 Böblingen, GermanyEditorial Team Sven Heuer, Kristina Müller-PoschmannLayout Maike DahmannContact [email protected], Phone: +49 7031 78-0Printed by Offizin Scheufele Druck und Medien GmbH & Co. KG, Tränkestraße 17, 70597 Stuttgart, Germany

Focus

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EditorialContents

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Dear readers,

From the very outset, it was never just about the product for our founder. It was about developing high-quality, end-to-end solutions for our customers.

More than sixty-five years ago, Eugen Eisenmann started a small consultant engineering company and developed the first wood-drying machine. Many new ideas followed, guided by Eisenmann’s passion for perfection, and over the years, the family-owned business grew into a global player. He was driven by a commitment to quality. And it still drives us today – in our ongoing efforts to redefine the state-of-the-art, time and again. But how do we, as a plant engineering company, actually achieve quality?

As plant operators, our customers expect ever more flexibility, faster implementation, and reproducible results. At the same time, good quality demands one thing above all else: continuity in the production process. As a supplier of customized plants and solutions, we set ourselves extremely high standards. For example, to ensure consistent quality during the painting process (page 15).

Today, we are on the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution. It holds out the prospect of higher quality in manufacturing in conjunction with low costs and high throughput. The E-MES production control system is an important part of our Industry 4.0 strategy and supports our customers on the road to the factory of the future (page 6).

Quality is also tied to mutual trust. For example, in training – which we view as one of our most important tasks and whose quality is very dear to us (page 18).

Quality comprises many elements and cannot be gauged by objective, quantifiable criteria alone – it is also subjective. With this in mind, we present a variety of employee perspectives in this issue (page 12).

I hope this proves an interesting and informative read.

Dr. Matthias von Krauland Chief Executive Officer

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Spotlight

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Versatile E-Cube proves popular

+++ GENERAL FINISHING +++

Since Eisenmann unveiled its innovative E-Cube mechani- cal paint overspray removal system in 2013, E-Cube has been purchased over 50 times for use in a variety of industries worldwide. In addition, over 90 types of paint have been successfully tested under real-world conditions at Eisenmann’s dedicated test center and at customer sites – testifying to E-Cube’s suitability for diverse wet paint scenarios.

E-Cube filters paint overspray from recirculating, or inlet and exhaust air – without using water, chemicals or other additives. In comparison to other solutions, E-Cube is exceptionally resource and energy efficient. For example, it can cut consumption of electricity for operation by up to 20 percent, for heating by up to 60 percent, and for cooling by up to 50 percent. Moreover, the modular system is suitable for industrial environments of practically all sizes, and it can be easily retrofitted to existing paint shops. E-Cube’s cost-efficiency and flexibility have caught the eye of several global players, including US automaker Tesla, agriculture equipment manufacturer Same Deutz-Fahr and Ronal, a leading manufacturer of light alloy wheels. In the last three years, they have installed E-Cubes in both new and existing plants.

Eisenmann’s Patrick Wohnsiedler is re-sponsible for further developing E-Cube. He explains the attraction of its simplicity: “Our customers value its ease of use. Staff don’t require any special training to use the system.” The cube-shaped filtration modules are delivered folded and highly compact. They are simple to assemble and can be easily replaced during ongoing operations. Switchover takes only around two minutes. This process is managed via a control panel, which also monitors the assigned cube’s saturation level. As a result, docking and undocking E-Cubes are fully automated processes, and employees do not come into contact with the paint overspray.

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+++ AWARD +++

Eisenmann and its subsidiary Enisco (established in 2016) received the coveted Diamond Star Award for successfully completing a major customer project. Dr. Matthias von Krauland, CEO of Eisenmann SE, accepted the prize at an industrial summit in Stuttgart organized by business newspaper Handelsblatt. The award recognizes solutions that effectively support the German government’s Industry 4.0 initiative.

Eisenmann had submitted a smart paint shop project. The shop, installed at a manufacturing plant for commercial vehicles, features an array of innovative functions never before implemented in this configuration. It delivers significant advantages over conventional solutions. Customer benefits include fully digitized production control via the web-based E-MES system, digital operator guidance, visualization graphics on large-format displays, and an integrated framework for quality control.

According to Dr. von Krauland, “The Diamond Star award underlines the value of combining Eisenmann’s traditional production engineering skills with Enisco’s expertise in relevant information technology and software.”

Diamond Star Awardfor Eisenmann

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TELOS GLOBALLeading Edge Press Hardening Solutions

Spotlight

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Telos Global aims to becomea leading supplier of plants for hot-stamped steel parts

+++ NEW SUBSIDIARY +++

Lightweight construction has been a key priority within the automotive industry for a number of years. But corresponding designs still require bodies to be stabilized by components such as A and B pillars and side members made from hot-stamped steel. The market for these parts is growing, particularly in the US. To expand its offering and skillset for lightweight materials, Eisenmann has established a new subsidiary: Telos Global, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. It primarily serves the lightweight needs of the North American automotive industry, both OEMs and suppliers, with a particular focus on hot-stamped steel components. Telos Global’s goal is to become one of the top three players in this market.

Telos Global comprises a team of specialists with comprehensive expertise in manufacturing and processing hot-stamped steel components. “This market is enjoying a strong tailwind, but there are few companies serving it,” explains Axel Weiand, who moved to Telos Global from Eisenmann Thermal Solutions and now co-manages the subsidiary with Rick Teague. He adds, “We believe that our extensive, proven experience with production scenarios gives us a distinct competitive advantage.”

Rick Teague, Telos Global shareholder, predicts the start-up will enjoy a rapid upward trajectory. “To address rising demand for manufacturing capacity, some 200 complete production lines will be needed by 2020.”

Telos will support all phases of the value chain – consult-ing, design, engineering, manufacturing, comprehensive aftersales services, and pilot production. The team will work directly with customers to develop specifications for entire plants. This involves developing dies and building proto- types for various component geometries. The prototypes are then scaled up to pre-production volumes.

For our trade-show schedule, see www.eisenmann.com/events

A competence center for stamping dies and a production-scale pilot plant are under construction at the new US facility. Manufacturing is scheduled to commence within the next months, with approximately 40 employees.

Production system for hot-stamped steel parts.

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More data. Smarter pattern recognition.

Greater quality.Consumers want a paint coating that makes their cars look good, and protects them from corrosion. Automakers expect their painting systems to make this possible. They also demand high throughput, low operating costs and above all, excellent quality. Eisenmann’s E-MES production control system fulfils these requirements and lays the foundations for smart factories.

W hen designing a paint shop, Eisenmann’s spe-cialists need to take multiple factors into account. These include not only the customer’s goal of a

high-quality end-product with a perfect finish, but also the quality of the production equipment. An outstanding plant is characterized by ease-of-maintenance, smooth operation, a long service life, high throughput, and an efficient use of resources. Developers must constantly seek ways to improve all of these aspects. And E-MES can help. This intelligent production control system from Eisenmann’s software subsidiary, Enisco, minimizes defects during painting. This enables high-quality vehicles to be manufactured at lower cost.

E-MES is a flexible, scalable production control system. It integrates all levels of control: from decision support for executives, to the factory floor, and from ERP software to

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PLCs. Where required, E-MES also links production processes horizon-tally. It makes industrial plants more intelligent, providing a key compo-nent of Industry 4.0 strategies and smart factories.

Automatic pattern recognition reduces paintwork defectsDuring the painting process, sensors in the plant allow the control system to capture large quantities of data on humidity, temperature, current values in the e-coat bath, the paths of vehicle bodies, and many other parameters. “We know that paintwork flaws are always the result of specific

combinations of factors. E-MES auto-matically identifies these patterns by running an algorithm to evaluate data gathered from a huge number of painting processes,” explains Enisco’s Managing Director, Werner Gruber. Operators no longer need extensive experience to modify product systems in order to prevent defects. Thanks to E-MES, the plant automatically takes corrective action as soon as a fault occurs.

Production data acquisition not only provides insight into recurring defects in the painting process. It also makes it easier to identify potential ››

Information such as digital timestamps or measurement data

is centrally consolidated and stored in the E-MES cloud,

and displayed and analyzed on smart devices via E-MES.

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improvements. All completely as- sembled vehicles that leave the pro- duction line are provided with data detailing all relevant production con- ditions. “This data is normally archived, but it also can be utilized by the expert system – an analysis and monitoring tool,” explains Gruber. For this purpose, a multitude of sensors are located throughout the paint shop. As a result, Eisenmann, for example, can already develop painting lines that keep operators informed of a given vehicle body’s position and status at all times.

Werner Gruber, Managing Director,ENisco GmbH & Co. KG

››

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Beyond the paint shopMany automotive manufacturers still regard body shop, paint shop and final assembly as separate and independent areas of production. However, they are looking for a higher-level system that collects comprehensive data across all production stages. For example, the paint shop would no longer need to perform measurements during seam sealing if a body’s exact dimensions were supplied by the body shop. As a result, should a body with a mere two millimeters of distortion arrive at the painting line, the software would already have been notified and could instruct the robots to compensate automatically.

In the future, Enisco’s developers aim to go one step further and extend the data-collection options available with E-MES. The potential scenarios are wide-ranging. End-product quality is determined by many other factors, not just the patterns detectable on painted bodies, in the behavior of the equipment or job sequences. Even changes in the weather can be relevant. Comprehensive data acquisition and processing makes it possible to recognize patterns faster and address potential faults at an earlier stage.

Data is collected during painting and

analyzed by an algorithm designed

to recognize patterns.

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Over 14,000 square meters of floor space:

High-tech plants and components are checked in

accordance with defined inspection plans in the test and

assembly center. Its halls are more than 12 meters high.

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I n the 1980s, Eisenmann’s first test center in Böblingen was relatively small. It was used to rigorously check system components before they were shipped to construction sites. The purpose of Eisenmann’s current,

large-scale test and assembly center is the same: to maximize quality. At this facility – shared by all business units – employees pre-assemble components and entire production systems, and put them into operation. This ensures rapid and trouble-free commissioning at the installation site.

“Our number one priority is to ensure our customers receive only fully tested equipment – both standard products and complete plants,” explains Rainer Ruckaberle, Vice President of Production at Eisenmann. Working hand-in-hand with Quality Management, his experts not only test parts individually. They also subject fully integrated systems to endurance tests lasting 12 hours or more, and assess performance against predefined quality parameters. They scrutinize hardware, electrical components, and control systems. Afterwards, equipment is divided into sub-assemblies for convenient transportation, and shipped to the customer. On site, Eisenmann teams re-assemble and re-commission the system. This approach minimizes the risk of problems going undetected until start-up at the customer’s premises.

Eisenmann’s quality-assurance activities go well beyond product testing, however. From the very outset, the company is highly proactive, seeking to eliminate potential sources of faults. At the test and assembly center, for example, specialists develop product prototypes and perform endurance testing on them. Furthermore, customer validations are conducted on E-Cube and E-Scrub paint overspray removal systems. In addition, preliminary tests are carried out using the customer’s actual vehicle bodies to optimize the plant’s design.

Pre-shipment testing guarantees quality

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65 years of quality

Quality has been Eisenmann’s bedrock from the very outset. A commitment to achieving, and being, the very best is what propelled a small family firm to the status of an international player.

We asked a number of colleagues two questions: How do we define quality within Eisenmann? And what, in concrete terms, is the company’s quality promise to its customers?

“Greater customer satisfaction is the focus of all our efforts and activities. And the quality of our plants and services plays a pivotal role, underpinning the trust our customers have in us – worldwide. For us, quality is an integral part of our day-to-day work. That is the only way we can maintain or raise our very high quality standards. To safeguard and continuously improve quality, we regularly identify potential for improvement. We concentrate on preemptively avoiding mistakes and faults, and on delivering excellent, resource-friendly and future-proof plants and services.

Our quality management system was first certified more than 20 years ago. Our employees’ skills and passion are vital to the high quality of our plants and services. Delivering quality to our customers in the long term is key to our success in the long term.”

Dr. Thomas Beck,CFO

“Good quality is the result of completely fulfilling the expectations of all stakeholders regarding the products and services delivered. This lays the foundations for successful and enduring partnerships based on mutual trust.

Eisenmann is committed to providing customers with highly efficient, innovative solutions that meet all project-specific requirements. Our process knowledge, our state-of-the-art technology, and our integrated, global project-management organization ensure that we can deliver on this promise.”

Cassiano Fabris,Senior Manager, Project Management, North America,

Automotive Systems

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“Quality is when a satisfied customer – and not our product – returns to us. We need to define, agree, and fulfil requirements in cooperation with the customer, and do so efficiently and on time. And we should always bear in mind: quality costs less not more.

We are fully committed to quality, and all our activities are designed to avoid mistakes in the first place – rather than rectifying them at a later date. Or to put it another way: we want to get it right the first time. If our customers are satisfied, so are we.

Our quality management system systematically monitors and documents all processes in line with defined criteria. And to ensure ongoing verification and improvement of the system, it is regularly subjected to auditing by an external certification agency, in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001 and VDA 6.4.”

Markus Englisch,Corporate Vice President,

Quality Management

“For me, good quality is about making sure the services we provide are in line with the assurances we have given, and that our customers are satisfied.

Consistently high quality worldwide is based, above all, on the expertise of our employees. We have defined a variety of standards, and ensure strict compliance with those standards. This enables us to uphold the quality promise we make to our customers.”

“Good quality is a measure of excellence: a product or service free from defects and deficiencies.

Regular training sessions and meetings at company headquarters in Germany not only promote the global exchange of information and ideas among Eisenmann engineers and experts. They also result in continuous process improvements, and, most important, ensure that everyone shares the same commitment to quality – worldwide.”

Holger Ernst,Senior Vice President, Service

Somnath Bhattacharya,Associate Vice President, Electrical Engineering

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Appearances matter

ThinkGreenWho is who

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Lifelong learningHelaine Zhao first joined Eisenmann in 2014 when she absolved an internship with the Environmental Technology team in Shanghai. Since graduating in March 2015 with a degree in environmental engineering, she has been playing her part in protecting our ecology as a design engineer at Eisenmann.

W hat made you decide to specialize in environ-mental engineering?Well, I have always been averse to wasting energy

and resources – I took the issue very seriously even as a child, from my elementary school days. Later, I decided to make it my profession to help address the environmental challenges facing my country.

Would you describe yourself as a technical person? Well, I would like to think so. I have already learned a great deal from more experienced colleagues, and I want to continue to extend my knowledge. At present, I’m focusing on the technology. But in the future, I can also see myself working in project management.

How would your friends describe you?They would probably say that I am a friendly and warm-hearted person with wide-ranging interests.

How does a good working day start for you?I sometimes exercise in the morning before work. When I get to the office, I have a cup of coffee and then I am ready to go. It is important to me to set a specific goal every day to focus on.

What is your motto – at work and in your private life?Endless learning, never stop using your intellectual capacity and always keep up an interest in everything around me.

If you did not work for Eisenmann, what would you be doing instead?Maybe I would have pursued my PhD and taught at a university. But I really enjoy working here as a design engineer. And being an Eisenmann employee means I will have many opportunities to develop my skills and career in the future.

What personality, or whose professional career, particularly impresses you, and why?I admire my father, who is a teacher, and my undergraduate teacher Mr. Tang. They are both very wise, hard-working people with a sense of humor. They never simply follow the crowd, but are brave enough to stand up for their convictions. They are both wonderful teachers who are extremely committed and go the extra mile: They share their personal experiences and taught me a lot about life.

What do you value most in life?My family, my friends, and being given the opportunity to follow my passion and to pursue my dreams.

What is your dream in life?To travel around the world.

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Appearances matter

The quality of a car’s paintwork matters hugely to both manufacturers and end customers – no less so

than vehicle design, or advances in engine technology. Against this background, automakers expect top quality

from Eisenmann. But what does it take to produce the best possible finish?

››

„T hat is not quite as simple as with other industrial production activities,” explains Ralph Meier,

Vice President for Product Devel-opment at Eisenmann’s Application Technology business unit. “The qual-ity of the painting process and of the end-product depends on a large and diverse set of factors that must be carefully balanced and harmonized.

ThinkGreen

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as fluid as water, while others have a yogurt-like consistency. When com- missioning equipment, Eisenmann staff checks thoroughly that it func-tions correctly with all types of paint. They also share their knowledge with the customer employees who will later be responsible for ensuring process quality during volume production.

“You can never have too many people with the right skills,” stresses Meier. True specialists thoroughly under-stand the technology, have an eye for detail, and are willing to acquire knowl- edge outside of their own field. The job is typically performed by industrial painters who are highly familiar with the equipment, or by mechatronics technicians with a sound understand-ing of paintings and coatings.

Quality managers are frequently con-fronted with new challenges and unforeseen circumstances. As a result of its many physical and chemical variables, the painting process is highly complex. It must be observed continuously with a practiced eye – and fine-tuned until it delivers the outstanding quality that the customer expects. Nothing can compare with the expert eye of a seasoned profes-sional when it comes to verifying coating quality in the spray booth, and to final inspection of the car body. Eisenmann’s new light tunnel, Vario-Inspect, supports extremely effective quality control. Its LEDs can be precisely adjusted in line with daylight conditions. Because ultimately, how the finish looks to the customer in the light of day is the only test that matters.

Ralph Meier, Vice President, Product Development,Application Technology

Ongoing dialogue with our colleagues in Research & Development is essential. This exchange is key to gaining insights from the data we have collected, and to harnessing them within an iterative improvement process, leading to superior products.”

For example, it is impossible, with conventional measurement techniques, to gauge the quality of the painting process immediately after the coating system has been applied. This is because the top coat first has to dry out before properties such as the layer thickness, gloss and reflective haze can be measured with the high precision necessary. These tasks are performed by robots fitted with corre-sponding sensors.

Moreover, ensuring a system of such complexity operates smoothly re-quires the seamless interaction of all components – including control and paint supply systems, and robots equipped with VarioBell high-speed rotary atomizers.

The perfect finishThe appearance of a coated surface just after two or three layers have been applied differs significantly from its completely dry state, several hours later. As Meier explains, “That is why it is important to have experts on hand who can determine the quality of a coating while still wet, and if necessary, modify plant parameters accordingly.”

This is a significant challenge, par- ticularly in light of the variety of coating systems employed. Some are

››

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Like cooking to a recipeManufacturers of coating systems know just how sensitive their products are. That is why they test new batches before shipment using LabPainter, a unique, laboratory-scale painting system. “If I mix five metric tons of a coating system with exactly the same pastes, pigments and components I used last time, the results can still be slightly different. It’s like when you cook food to a recipe; the taste still varies,” says Rainer Prauser, Division Manager for Laboratory Installations at Eisenmann‘s Application Technology division. While it is easy to add seasoning to the pot on the stove, the painting industry needs to make more exact comparisons. LabPainter provides the functionality required. It can be tooled with a range of atomizers via a quick-change device and applies a coat of paint to a substrate under precisely defined conditions. The results can then be compared with the reference substrate kept in the laboratory. This is performed on one hand by measurement electronics included in LabPainter’s peripherals. On the other hand, a trained eye is invaluable when it comes to checking that the various parameters match target values – particularly shades of color. By this method, the engineers come ever-closer to the ideal paint composition, in up to ten steps and through minimal adjustments of the shade. According to Prauser, paint manufacturers not only use the technique for quality control, but also in the development phase. Moreover, a growing number of carmakers are deploying laboratory-scale systems in their paint shops. They use them to quickly and cost-effectively compare the finishes achieved in production with reference coatings.

The Application Technology business unit offers a compact device employed

by paint manufacturers to produce color tables. LabPainter is a mobile miniature

laboratory that simulates finishing on a production line with a high-speed,

electrostatic rotary atomizer and two spray guns.

Rainer Prauser, Division Manager for Laboratory Installations,Application Technology

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People & Places People & Places

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E isenmann has offered vocational training since the 1950s, and ac- cepted its first university engi-

neering students within the scope of cooperative education pro- grams in 2001. The Training Center’s inauguration in 2002 was a major milestone, centralizing and consolidat- ing the skills development courses previously spread across three company sites. Today, vocational and uni- versity-degree programs are offered in five disciplines, with expert instructors nurturing participants’ skills and talents in the center’s open, friendly atmosphere.

Technology-driven businesses under- stand the continued and growing importance of well-designed, high-quality vocational training. Industries such as mechanical and plant engi- neering require hard-to-find spe-

cialists. Degree-level cooperative education programs were established in Germany specifically to meet this need. They comprise alternating three-month periods of academic study at a university and hands-on learning at a placement

company. Varied and inten-sive in nature, these courses enable students to gain work experience at an early stage. While Eisenmann began with just four placement students in 2001, a total of 144 have completed their programs and graduated since then. Currently, 55 people are studying information tech-

nology, mechanical and electrical engineering, mecha-tronics, and engineering with business administration. Beginners are paired with more experienced students who act as mentors. Students receive monthly payments, and are therefore financially independent. And many can look forward to a permanent position with Eisenmann on graduating. Another 91 young people are pursuing vocational programs at Eisenmann. These normally last three or more years (outstanding trainees can qualify ahead of schedule), and lead to recognized qualifications in

“Training is fundamental to our ability to fulfil customers’ requirements. That is why we see our vocational

and cooperative degree programs as vital seedbeds of development for our

organization.”

Uli Metz, Corporate Vice President,

Human Resources

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Quality begins with skills developmentThe Eisenmann Training Center, a large, cube-shaped glass building, is a hive of activity. In its workshops, young men and women in red polo shirts and gray trousers are busy with welders and wrenches. Others are practicing on control systems in the electrical engineering lab, or concentrating on their CAD drawings at classroom PCs.

mechatronics, engineering of metal structures, automation electronics, process engineering for painting and coating, and technical product design. To date, 910 men and women trained by Eisenmann have qualified in their chosen professions.

Training begins with a foundation program that equips participants with basic mechanical skills. They then develop their practical knowledge through learning-by-doing. By the end of their first year, they will be involved in actual customer projects. As a result, they soon gain an understanding of Eisenmann’s products, work processes and quality criteria – and those of customers. Moreover, all trainees of any given year collaborate on an interdisciplinary project designed to develop and build an innovative product. One example was a mobile welding table for which the company filed a patent application. “This approach to learning is very popular with our young people,” says Martin Schmeckenbecher, training manager at Eisenmann.

Another powerful motivator is the opportunity given to take part in customer projects overseas – for instance in China or the USA. Vocational trainees and bachelor-degree students are able to experience negotiations, planning, implementation and commissioning at first hand, and

Martin Schmeckenbecher and

Tanja Göhner-Held are responsible for

the next generation of employees.

acquire valuable insights and expertise. Eisenmann’s broad portfolio of products and services means they can learn about systems and equipment of all kinds – from paint shops to high-temperature furnaces. And they can actively participate in extremely interesting customer engagements. Trainee engineers can demonstrate their skills in the department of their choice, and improve their career prospects by completing a project-based bachelor thesis.

While Martin Schmeckenbecher and his team are respon-sible for trainees, Tanja Göhner-Held is the central point of contact for university students on cooperative edu- cation programs. The intensive support both groups receive pays dividends, “as shown by our above-average share of student-of-the-year award-winners, and by the fact that our trainees and apprentices regularly receive prizes, commendations, or permission to qualify ahead of schedule,” explains Tanja Göhner-Held. Martin Schmeckenbecher highlights another positive effect: “We often send trainees out by themselves to represent Eisenmann at college and career days at schools and training fairs. Because they are enthusiastic about Eisenmann and communicate that in a very authentic way — which makes them our best ambassadors when it comes to attracting motivated and imaginative applicants.”

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