Chili, Szechuan pepper, ginger, garlic: that's what being on the road tastes like for Josef Veith. Gong Bao Ji Ding is covered in those spices, fried chicken with peanuts and vegetables, one of Veith's favorite dishes from the Chinese canton cuisine. Over the years he travelled to China more than 30 times for the commissioning of float glass plants of Grenzebach. It is the task of the 59-year old to develop software so that the cutting technology at the so called Cold End of the glass production is optimally able to handle the endless glass ribbon. He is on site during the commissioning of plants, trains teams at the glass manufacturers who control the cutting technology so that the yield of top-quality glass is as high as possible. "We jointly look at the user interface and of course I also explain what needs to be done on the hardware, such as the server during maintenance," explains Josef Veith. And he adds: "What I particularly like about programming is that small things can be adjusted immediately on site during commissioning. I can solve a problem right there at the construction site".
When the day's work at the flat glass plant is completed, Josef Veith likes to go on culinary tours. For example in the south of China. Cook shops and street restaurants, places where many locals eat, that's what he is looking for. Reading the menu? Other guests translate from Chinese into English or pictures or the smart phone can help. The 59-year-old is particularly fond of Chinese and Korean cuisine.
Working and discovering the world
Gong Bao Ji Ding: That Veith would discover one of his favorite foods in Asia was not foreseeable. "Until I was 27, I was downright a couch potato and not much of a traveler," says Josef Veith and laughs. When he joined Grenzebach and started going on business trips, he quickly developed an interest in foreign countries and people, culture and cuisine. China, Korea, Egypt, Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, England, Belarus, Russia and the United States: At times the software developer would add a few more days for personal travel. "One of the greatest experiences was my first commissioning trip at the beginning of the 1990s to Indonesia, near Jakarta. Of course I made a trip to the Indonesian islands, snorkeling included." Exciting change: After phases of programming at the Grenzebach headquarters in Hamlar near Augsburg, he appreciates the opportunity to travel to faraway places for commissioning work: "But then I also always look forward to going home again."
Caraway, aniseed, fennel and coriander: that's what being at home tastes like for Josef Veith. Several times a year he and other volunteers bake well-seasoned rye bread in the historic stone oven in the vicarage of Lauterbach. The village of Lauterbach in Bavarian Swabia is the home of Josef Veith, his wife and their three grown-up children. The family home was built when Josef Veith was still studying electrical engineering at the Augsburg University of Applied Sciences.
Firm in soft- and hardware
Veith had been looking for an interesting company near Lauterbach when he graduated - he found it with Grenzebach in Hamlar where he has been working since 1989. After finishing secondary school, Josef Veith first trained as an information electronics technician and then went on to the vocational high school in Augsburg. Technical school diploma. "When I joined Grenzebach after studying electrical engineering, software development was still a very hardware-related job. Electronic programs had a size of 32 to 64 kilobytes, were sent on data carriers and installed by the customer. Today the programs have a size of several megabytes and many issues can be solved by remote maintenance. I still benefit from my training to this day: I can check the wiring during commissioning and repair it myself if necessary".
“Travelling a lot in my job has ultimately grounded me very much.”
Fruit and cake for the colleagues
During his programming phases Josef Veith frequently rides the 14 kilometers from Lauterbach to his workplace and back home on his e-bike. If he drives his car he probably packed apples, plums and cherries or homemade fruit cakes for his colleagues. Speaking of cake: If the kitchen radio breaks down while mixing the dough, Josef Veith is happy about it. "I like to stoop over circuit diagrams, disassemble and repair a radio. It relaxes me to work with hardware." And also to Josef Veith's liking: Taking care of the fruit trees in his yard and getting on the tractor to cut wood in the forest. But those would be other stories!
