“We need creative young people like you”.
At the traditional “CEO-Brunch”, Knut Zimmer got up close and personal with Feintool’s up-and-coming experts of tomorrow. The approximately twenty trainees in four different professions at the plants in Switzerland took the opportunity to get some personal and professional answers from the CEO.
“Whatever it is you do, do it as well as you possibly can – with passion and enjoyment,” was how Knut Zimmer began his response to a question about his career path to CEO. Getting involved and seizing opportunities – that’s how he carved out his path, he explained. On his first working day as a trainee industrial administrator, he was – to his astonishment – sent into the workshop, where he first had to learn how to file steel. With this anecdote, Knut Zimmer emphasized to the young people how important it is to be willing to tackle challenges and keep learning. After all, he noted, with everything they are learning now they are investing in their own futures.
What he most likes about the job of CEO, he said, is the opportunity to set things in motion. He is an active person anyway, he explained, and likes to take adventurous trips while on holiday and to set off on his mountain bike when time allows. He is less keen on the unproductive time spent in the car while on business trips, however.
The “FB one” – the new fineblanking press designed by Feintool itself – appeared to be particularly close to the trainees’ hearts. “Most definitely”, was Knut Zimmer’s response to the question of whether the production plant in Lyss (CH) would be getting an “FB one” of its own. The press is a good example of Feintool’s efforts to develop further, he said, going on to explain how ongoing improvement of the applied technologies is the prerequisite for Feintool being able to bring the sort of high-quality products to the market in future as it does today. And for a company to be able to meet these prerequisites, he said, it needs courage, revolutionary thinking, and “creative young people like you”!
The trainees were also very interested in the shift in the automotive market towards alternative drive concepts, and the impact this is having on Feintool. Knut Zimmer highlighted examples of how the company is tapping into these opportunities with its strategy and the necessary changes.
For Feintool as a technology company, investment in its own young employees is crucial. For some years now, the Group has based its training programs on the dual system – consisting of theoretical training in an external institution and practical experience in Feintool’s own plants. This applies not only in Europe, where the model is widespread, but in the USA and China too.