Variety is the spice of training!

Accepted for a traineeship as a Technical Product Designer at Krones! Back then, I was really pleased about it. And now, too, over a year later, I’m just as delighted to have this marvellous opportunity. Why do I so much enjoy being a trainee at Krones? That’s what I’m going to tell you:

This is in store for me as well now … A change of department! This, you see, is just one of the things that makes training at Krones rather special: no trainee stays in just one department throughout his/her apprenticeship. After a certain time, which depends on the particular career profile involved, we trainees are re-assigned and join a new team. So there are always fresh challenges waiting for us!

From August to December, for instance, I was posted to Labelling Technology, My highlight: I was allowed to design a shrink tunnel for the Sleevematic labeller. I also assisted the design engineer in drawing a guard component, and designed machinery pictures that illustrate for the client the different options for monobloc synchronisation of labeller modules and stations, which gave me a valuable insight into the various types of labeller that Krones offers. In addition, I spent a lot of time altering drawings and managing overviews of changeover parts. I learned a lot in these four months: I upgraded my knowledge of SAP, and now I’m much better at handling the SolidEdge ST6 CAD program. After this interesting time, my first re-assignment is about to take effect: as of now, I have an opportunity change to extend my fund of knowledge in the Filling Technology Department. I’m already looking forward to gaining new experience!

This principle I’ve just described is what we call a “rotation system”. It enables us trainees to acquire a lot of diversified knowledge and to finally qualify as competent skilled workers, because depending on the department involved, the remits vary accordingly, so that in the course of our training we acquire an excellent overview of the company’s procedural structures. So that we can support the individual departments to optimum effect, our first port of call was the Training Centre, where our instructors taught us the specialised knowledge we need. In the training workshop, the focus was quite unequivocally on practical work: we filed, we sawed, we drilled and worked with lathes and milling machines. Producing lots of different workpieces enabled us to put the theory we’d learned into immediate practice and intensify our skills. Equipped with these capabilities, we can feel ourselves to be well prepared, and are looking forward to demonstrating the extent of our knowledge.