This year, Opel is once again welcoming 170 new trainees to the locations in Rüsselsheim, Eisenach, Bochum and Kaiserslautern. The company’s qualified vocational training not only has a 162-year-long tradition with currently ten apprenticeships and six study programs – it is also a career springboard for further careers. Five colleagues who have decided on a career path at the main plant in Rüsselsheim report on what this might look like.
Tim Schöneberger
If new, modified components are required on the line, the group leader and his team are available.
The production of cars is based on a huge logistics machine that is constantly in motion. Tim Schöneberger leads the team that specializes in a particularly complex part: it keeps the supply chain of all modified components running, for example in the event of a model year change or a facelift. In close coordination with engineering colleagues, suppliers and production control, the new components must be ordered and entered into the factory systems in order to be ready for installation on the line in the highest quality. Pre-series parts – which are kept in a separate warehouse – also fall into the 28-year-old group leader’s area of responsibility. It is a responsible position that the trained industrial clerk has gradually grown into.
“It was a big step for me when my manager asked three years ago whether I would like to lead the team as a group leader,” he remembers. He was just 25 at the time and was still in the middle of his part-time business studies. After a short period of deliberation, he decides: “I’ll do it!” After all, he has already gained a wide range of experience: as a material dispatcher in coordinating and monitoring parts orders or as a launch coordinator – a newly created position at the time – in overseeing the supply chains of new models. During his assignment abroad at the French plant in Poissy, he also got to know new system worlds. Today, after two years, he knows that it takes more than just technical know-how to be a good group leader: “It is a challenging and exciting task: different characters and worlds of experience come together in a team – I also benefit from that. You’re basically forced to constantly develop both professionally and personally.”
Laura Homburg
Starting out as a cutting machine operator, the 29-year-old now keeps the line running with her alarm team.
If great-grandpa, grandpa and dad have already decided on Opel, the choice of employer is practically a family matter: In September 2015, Laura Homburg begins her training as a cutting machine operator in Rüsselsheim. And it’s exactly her thing. Turning, milling, shaping a piece of metal. To create something from nothing. It’s an aesthetic work, she thinks. But also demanding. “Programming a 5-axis machine requires a lot of know-how.” It has been five years since she received her training certificate. Since then, however, she has “not worked a second” in the profession she trained for. And yet Laura Homberg would do everything the same again: After completing her training, immerse herself in the world of logistics at Opel Special Vehicles, aim to become a logistics master with an IHK degree, and now lead one of the so-called alarm teams as a column leader .
The team includes up to ten employees. Its job is to deliver required components outside of the process to the finishing and final assembly line. “We are the fire department – if there is an emblem, for example, we take action.” It is a demanding job, grueling and hectic, the sequence stability has to be right. “It’s me who has to justify myself when the line comes to a standstill,” she says. It wasn’t difficult for her to assert herself as a woman in the male-dominated world of manufacturing: “I’m respected – and thanks to the forklift, I’m equal to my male colleagues in terms of strength,” says the 29-year-old, who doesn’t just let others work for her , but also likes to lend a hand. At Opel she not only found a fulfilling job, but also a family: “We stand together as a team, the solidarity is great – even outside of work,” she says. Last but not least, she also met her current husband at Opel. Opel is just a family affair.
Lennart Platen
As a project specialist, the former dual student is driving automation and digitalization in the factory.
Three things were important to Lennart Platen when he started looking for training after graduating from high school: It should be technical, with a lot of practical relevance and in a company that offers many development opportunities. “I found all of this at Opel,” he says today, six years after studying systems engineering combined with training as a mechatronics engineer. An AGV, a driverless transport system, equipped with components for the line, rolls next to him. The project specialist is responsible for its use in the Rüsselsheimer as well as the camera systems at several points on the line. The systems are part of quality assurance and help to detect production. “An AI evaluates the camera recordings: If, for example, the underbody is screwed together incorrectly, a warning signal sounds,” he explains.
Despite the pandemic, Lennart Platen has fond memories of the dual study period: “We grew close together as a group.” There is plenty of practice in the three internships in the company, an integral part of the dual study program: he tests and validates, for example Camera systems on the test track in Dudenhofen and optimizes the use of a so-called activator tower in manufacturing – this prepares the front and rear windows for installation using adhesive. His first permanent position will take him to Software “It’s an exciting task and yet I haven’t let go of the fascination with manufacturing.” At the beginning of the year he wrote a letter of motivation – and it’s well received: Since June, the 26-year-old project specialist has been pushing digitalization and automation with driverless transport and camera systems ahead of production. “The opportunities and possibilities that the company offers are huge. “I don’t regret my choice of employer,” he says.
Buket Bilen
Motivated and committed: The trained industrial clerk shows the way to her new colleagues in production.
“Show that you are motivated and want to achieve something.” The trainers give this motto to the newcomers on the first day of their training. Buket Bilen makes it his own. It is September 2020 when she starts her training as an industrial clerk. And the first impression she got during the application phase – “it was incredibly relaxed and professional” – is confirmed over the course of her apprenticeship: “You constantly learn new things, gain insights into many departments and are always competent from the Opel trainers accompanied,” she says. The fact that after her training she initially worked for ten months in a non-technical area in production quality assurance turned out to be a stroke of luck. Because here at the plant she will take up her current position as a clerk in October 2023.
As a human resources specialist, she looks after temporary workers and trainees in prefabricated and final assembly, is responsible for the onboarding of new colleagues, and looks after the permanent staff with problems and questions. “It helps me a lot that I have already worked shifts on the line myself so that I can assess where the pitfalls lie,” she says. Every day she enters the halls with a mixture of fascination and anticipation: “Every day is different and offers new challenges.” She is still constantly learning today. “I am developing not only professionally, but also personally.” Her commitment and desire for new things also gave her a special experience: when Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the plant in June on the occasion of the 125th anniversary celebration Buket Bilen sits in the passenger seat as the head of government drives an Astra off the assembly line. The 24-year-old can well imagine taking on even more responsibility in the future. Because the trainers’ guiding principle at the start – it still accompanies them today.
Antonio Ursa
The trained tool mechanic finds his calling in logistics.
Career is what happens while you are making other plans: “I never thought what position I would end up in,” says Antonio Ursa. It has been five years since the now 27-year-old completed his training as a tool mechanic in Rüsselsheim. “I only have the best memories of my training – it was a cool time,” he says. He then moved to the logistics area, where he took on management responsibility for the first time as a platoon leader in the materials receiving department of the engine and transmission plant. The aspiring “Master Logistics” has now been responsible for receiving materials in the K130 at the main plant for a year and a half. Whether dashboard or front and rear windows – up to 70 truckloads of assembly parts arrive every day.
He leads a team of around 30 colleagues. It is responsible for the storage of those components that are not needed ad hoc on the line. Every component has its own place on 20,000 square meters. The components for the battery shop are also part of his area of responsibility. And logistics know-how alone is not enough. From occupational safety to finance – Antonia Ursa’s area of responsibility is as diverse as it is complex. “In particular, managing up to 30 employees is a lot of work,” he emphasizes. It was a big learning process to find the right approach for everyone and to feel what makes someone tick. But it is a task that he really enjoys. In October he will take his master’s examination. He already represents the operations manager when necessary. He is excited to see where his future career path will take him. Because: “If you are flexible and keep your eyes open, then there are many options open to you here in the factory.”
And Opel is already writing the next chapter of these success stories, as the application process for the 2025 training year has already started. Here you can find all the important information about vocational training at Opel.
September 2024
Photos: Opel/Andreas Liebschner