José and his training at Feintool in Ohrdruf.

The employees at Feintool System Parts Ohrdruf GmbH welcomed Spain native José with open arms back on September 1, 2015, when he began his training to become a cutting machine operator. He received a traineeship in Germany as a participant in the “The Job of My Life” program. He took advantage of the opportunity and has now successfully finished his training.

It was the lack of career opportunities that led the then 28-year-old Spaniard to apply for the funding program of the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Since 2013, the project has enabled young Europeans to complete their professional training in Germany. In February 2015, VHS-Bildungswerk Thüringen welcomed around 30 young men and women from Spain – and José was one of them. His traineeship provides for training at the vocational center in Gotha as well as an annual six-week company apprenticeship at Feintool.

The greatest challenge was the language, explains José. “My coworkers at Feintool were very patient with me and helped me learn the technical terms.” Through daily use of the language, José was able to overcome the linguistic hurdles in no time. Oliver Schneider, who is responsible for training future toolmakers at Feintool in Ohrdruf, remembers: “From the very beginning, José tackled the linguistic difficulties with sheer will and took on his tasks with an amazing level of motivation.”

Over the past four years, what began as an experiment turned into a perfect collaboration for all those involved – José Martin Gutierrez successfully finished his training on June 28, 2019, and has been working as a permanently employed cutting machine operator at Feintool since then. “Feintool offered me the opportunity to invest in my professional future by allowing me to complete my training there. I have established a professional foundation upon which I can build my career. Additionally, I now feel at home in Germany; the people at Feintool and at the school provided me with a lot of support throughout my entire training and in all aspects,” says José proudly.

The training of young technicians is crucial for Feintool, because it is the only way the company can pass on and expand its many years of expertise. In order to lay the foundation for long-term and sustainable collaboration, Feintool offers its employees the opportunity to pursue professional development, both internally and externally. In addition, Feintool attaches great importance to knowledge transfer within the Group and supports internal expatriate transfers that enable employees to spend time living and working in another country for another Feintool plant.

The company, founded in 1959 and headquartered in Lyss, Switzerland, has its own production plants and technology centers in Europe, the United States, China, and Japan and has around 2 700 employees and more than 80 trainees. Fineblanking, forming, electro lamination stamping – the processes used by Feintool are perfectly suited to implementing the trends both of the automotive industry as well as of various future technologies such as energy production and robotics.

Here you will find more information about training opportunities at Feintool.