WITTMANN and WAGO strengthen training cooperation

In Germany, the injection molding equipment supplier WITTMANN and the electronics company WAGO are intensifying their cooperation in technical vocational training, which started three years ago and has proved very successful so far. Next year, new trainees will be recruited for the cooperation program. The future technical staff members are employed by WITTMANN BATTENFELD and are sent to WAGO for training.

The continuously increasing skilled labor shortage calls for new, creative ideas. Here, the story of Max Rusch is a prime example. The prospective mechatronics engineer has his roots in his home region Thuringia in Germany. The WITTMANN Group with its German subsidiaries in Nuremberg and Meinerzhagen has offered him a training program close to home with the prospect of permanent employment as a service engineer in the Thuringian area following successful completion of his training in spring 2025.

A win-win situation all round

This has become possible by way of a training cooperation deal between the WITTMANN Group and its customer WAGO. Max Rusch receives most of his training together with the WAGO apprentices at the training center of WAGO’s production plant in Sondershausen, Thuringia. In between, he regularly spends some time with product training on the premises of his employer WITTMANN.

As a fully trained service engineer, Rusch will take care of WAGO as one of WITTMANN’s customers, where he has already become familiar with the machinery and staff responsible for the production during his training program. “More practicality in training is not possible”, states Michael Hinz, Site Manager of the Meinerzhagen facility and Head of Vocational Training of WITTMANN BATTENFELD Germany. “The apprenticeship cooperation is a win-win situation for all participants. We secure well trained skilled staff for our company in areas where we cannot provide any local training facilities ourselves. At the same time, our cooperation partner benefits from the new service engineer working productively from the very first day.”

The two partners WITTMANN and WAGO are now starting into their second round and extending their cooperation. For the beginning of the new training year, two new apprentices will be recruited. This time, the training will take place at the headquarters of WAGO in Minden, Germany, in order to develop service engineers for the region of East Westphalia.

Corporate apprentice workshops at three locations

With this cooperation, WITTMANN targets the strengthening of its service organization in Germany. “Qualified service engineers are hard to find”, says Hinz. And that in spite of this being a very diversified job with excellent remuneration plus attractive fringe benefits, such as a company car which can also be used privately.

Traditionally, technical training has a high priority within the WITTMANN Group. At the facilities in Nuremberg, Meinerzhagen and Kottingbrunn (Austria), WITTMANN runs its own apprentice workshops to meet its demand for skilled personnel in the fields of mechatronics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, machining technology, IT technology and plastics technology.