Heidenheim, Germany. As in the previous year, Voith is again proud to announce a 2014 apprentice’s outstanding final exam result. In the summer of 2014, Linus Ruf’s result in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCI) exam for production technicians made him the best apprentice nationwide. Ruf will receive an award on December 8, 2014 in Berlin at a ceremony held by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

The production technician Ruf was successful in the CCI exam at the local, state and national levels. Before Linus Ruf goes to Berlin, yesterday the 23-year-old was also being honored at the state level in Reutlingen for his achieve­ments. Along with Ruf, ten gradu­ating apprentices from Voith passed their final exam with a grade of “very good” this year. Another 17 young­sters finished their training at Voith with a result of 1.5 to 1.9.

“I have a job that is really fun. But my training supervisor and co-workers at Voith also supported me a lot all the time. That I did so well is of course another bonus for me,” says Ruf about his period of training. Erwin Krajewski, Director of Industrial-Technical Training at Voith in Heidenheim, adds: “Our team is very proud of Linus’ success, but also of the success of the other apprentices with very good test results. This success shows very clearly that we have chosen the right path with our training philosophy to ensure the thorough and integrated training of young people.”

Production technicians such as Linus Ruf plan and set up production and manu­facturing systems and put them into operation. They test product samples and prototypes and determine process parameters. Production technicians operate and monitor ongoing production, safeguard them and optimize the production pro­ces­ses. For this, they use programs for simulation and control of the operating pro­ces­ses. At Voith, production technicians are employed in the Voith Paper and Voith Turbo corporate divisions.

For more than 100 years, Voith has been committed to educating young apprentices and trainees from its own ranks and is thus a pioneer and trailblazer of dual training in Germany. At the Heidenheim location, more than 165 young people are currently trained in 13 industrial-technical and commercial occupations.

The Voith Training Center, newly opened in the spring of 2014 in Heidenheim, provides for a special learning atmosphere. It promotes shared learning and the team spirit of young people: the training workshop on the ground floor is designed as a large, open-plan space. At the start of their training, all Voith apprentices at the site will be taught together and will cover the same core curriculum for a period of up to three months. As a result, all new apprentices will get a better idea of the work involved in other occupations and will gain a common understanding of the bigger picture across disciplines. This is a component of Voith's new vocational training concept developed three years ago and gradually introduced.

Voith apprentices regularly receive accolades for their excellent performance. Meanwhile, Voith also offers training internationally, for example, in Brazil and China, according to the German model.

Voith sets standards in the energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive markets. Founded in 1867, Voith today has more than 43,000 employees and earns 5.7 billion euros in sales. It has locations in over 50 countries in all regions of the world and is one of the largest family-owned companies in Europe.