Freudenberg provides training worldwide

Weinheim, Germany – Digital learning, modern technologies and collaboration in interdisciplinary teams: The Freudenberg Group trains more than 500 young people across Germany for the job market of the future. The number of apprenticeships has remained the same as last year, attesting to the company’s commitment to investing in young peoples’ future in the long term. A total of 137 young people are starting their training in Germany. Freudenberg provides training worldwide: For instance, over the last ten years, more than 700 young people in India have received qualification for a profession under the dual vocational training system.

“We offer in-depth, professional training in a modern learning environment on cutting-edge equipment in an international work environment,” says Dr. Rainer Kuntz, head of the training center at the site in Weinheim. “Helping trainees grow to become independent and entrepreneurial employees who understand and have command over modern high-tech processes is an important goal,” says Kuntz. “Employees are a significant contributor to a company’s success, which is why the expert training of young talent worldwide is a key task for Freudenberg,” said Esther Loidl, a member of the board of management and chief human resource officer of the Freudenberg Group. Works council member Bernd Egner was on hand to welcome the trainees. Sixty-nine young people at the Weinheim site are starting their apprenticeships today. Thirty-four trainees are starting for the global technology company, alongside 35 for affiliated partners. Among the trainees are 18 students from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University.

Trainees not only gain knowledge in state-of-the-art processes at the training center, but they also deal with the topic of sustainability at a learning factory under fully automatic control. It replicates an entire production line on a small scale, from a high-bay warehouse to a robot station to quality control, thus making it easy to experience digitalization. After all, the next generation of skilled laborers will coordinate the use of smart factory lines, control processes on highly complex machines and solve IT problems.

This also transforms the apprenticeship: The content is becoming more complex and interdisciplinary. Self-management, an enthusiastic approach to lifelong learning and knowledge of technology are required. Process management and IT skills are just as much in demand as digital learning is. All training in the training center makes use of digital equipment such as touch monitors and tablets. Learning islands and an area for free learning and presentations also enable interactive learning. In the process, the instructors are learning companions and coaches instead of conventional imparters of knowledge. The trainees work together in inter-professional teams, independently create learning maps and work together to solve tasks.

Freudenberg is also committed to helping students enter scientific and technical professions: Preparing prospective female university graduates to enter the STEM professions, that is the goal of the mentoring program “moveMINT, in tandem to success” of the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences Foundation and the Association of Friends of the University. The idea: Female STEM students exchange information on professional and career topics in tandem with mentors from industry and business. The first round had a team of female mentors from the Freudenberg Group, most of whom have a degree in science or engineering and are pursuing different career paths at Freudenberg in technically oriented areas in various business groups, from developer to managing director. They support the mentees with expertise, knowledge and incorporation in an initial professional network. The program will be launching the second round in September.

As a global technology company, Freudenberg also trains apprentices in other countries such as India using the dual training system: For more than 10 years, the Freudenberg Training Center in Nagapattinam has been giving young people an opportunity to gain technical qualifications through dual training. Over 700 young people have been trained so far. The concept is to give young people the skills to establish a professional future for themselves while improving the economic infrastructure at the same time. Every year, around 120 talented young people complete the training program and meet the region’s demand for skilled workers. Trainers at the Freudenberg Training Centre qualify trainees to become mechanics, welders, machinists, locksmiths or electricians. The young people receive theoretical and practical training for one to two years, the same as in the dual vocational training system in Germany. The training program is a great success and has been certified by the National Council for Vocational Training.

Freudenberg offers three of the ten most popular apprenticeships in Germany: Electronics technician, mechatronics technician and industrial sales representative. There are over 20 training options in total: Training is provided in 13 skilled occupations as well as in nine dual courses of study in the fields of business, technology and IT together with the Cooperative State University in Mannheim. Applications for 2022 can now be submitted on the Freudenberg training homepage at www.ausbildung.freudenberg.com.