Michael Gottwald works in Electrical Project Engineering of the Business Unit Glass. In other words: For many years, he was in charge of programming the controls at the cold end of glass production, for example, in the unloading of the new glass plates, their snapping, transport and distribution. Nowadays, he lays the foundation for successful projects himself by designing the equipment for new production lines in the sales phase.
“If you want, Grenzebach will quickly give you responsibility. The opportunities are fantastic because it helps you grow and you learn so much in a short amount of time.”
Apprenticeship first, then studies
Michael started his career as an energy electronics technician for operating technology at Südzucker in Rain. Already during this time, though, he realized that he was not only interested in the operation and maintenance of plants but would much rather help to design and develop them. He therefore caught up on his A-levels and then studied electrical engineering with a focus on automation and power engineering in Augsburg. He began his career at Grenzebach after his successful diploma as an engineer. He soon found himself in positions of responsibility, spending a lot of time in Asia helping to build up new plants there.
Many Grenzebach employees will have this combination of apprenticeship and studies in their resumes. Evidently, this concept is paying off and proving to be a success factor. After all, it makes perfect sense to have learned something practically from scratch in order to then approach it one level higher.
Family versus globetrotting
It is a well-known phenomenon: As soon as someone starts a family, the wish to constantly travel around the world is greatly reduced. After all, you want to see your child grow up at home. It was the same for Michael. Since 2017, he has therefore been focusing on development and project engineering, most of which he can do from Hamlar. This involves, for example, the design of plants and clarifying quotations, but no longer on-site operations far away.
He was also part of a special project team to develop new products, special features and offers for the 2020 service. Unfortunately, the pandemic struck then and everything slowed down. Today, the developed products are successfully sold by the service department and are now increasingly being integrated into the new plant business via project engineering, so that the targeted corporate goals are now within reach.
Good company reputation
Michael already knew the company through his father, who also worked for Grenzebach. He thus had first-hand knowledge of what it was like at the automation specialist, of the corporate climate, and of the chances that he would feel at home there. Today, Michael has been part of the Business Unit Glass for almost 20 years. When employees stay with an employer for such a long time, they are clearly happy there, and that in turn suggests that the company is doing a lot of things right.
