Leoni Junior Group closes a successful first financial year
Apprentices in Roth manage ‘junior company’ on their own
“The first financial year was a real challenge. But the varied tasks and the fun made it worthwhile,” Andreas Ellinger and Alexander Herrmann, Leoni Junior Group’s two managing directors summarised. Initial orders from various departments of the Roth facility were taken as soon as the 19 and 22 year olds established the structure and were ready to go in the middle of the year. In total, the ‘junior company’ generated sales of about EUR 53,000 in 2011. Spending of about EUR 34,000 offset the income, leaving a praiseworthy profit of EUR 19,000.
All of the approximately 60 apprentices in Roth are – alongside their normal work – active in the Leoni Junior Group. Committing about two hours per week, they take sole responsibility in running their company’s business in various commercial and technical departments as well as management functions. Sales and marketing thus obtained new projects, purchasing sourced the raw material, production made the desired goods and bookkeeping controlled payments. The areas of responsibility will change hands annually so that every apprentice obtains comprehensive insight into the actual processes of a company.
The stated objective of the Leoni Kabel Holding GmbH parent company is to give its next generation wide-ranging skills and to convey the correlation of multifaceted business processes to them in a hands-on way – and thereby to improve the quality of their training. “By working in our ‘junior company’, our young people learn, among other things, to take responsibility, to work independently and to think in entrepreneurial terms,” says Roland Dorn in explaining the benefits for the apprentices. He is in charge of human resources within the Wire & Cable Solutions Division, to which our Roth facility also belongs, and gave the impetus for setting up the Leoni Junior Group. Anyone who works especially hard on this and displays particular strengths can certainly enhance their opportunity for other jobs within the Leoni Group.
In their first financial year, the ‘juniors’ specialised in making customised products and displays for trade fairs and marketing purposes. This work culminated in display tubes made of Plexiglas in various sizes, which present cable samples in a stylish way. The apprentice workshop also made a prototype to illustrate a charging socket for electric vehicles. The young talents also organised and built the try-your-luck stall at the City of Roth’s Christmas market entirely on their own – including presentation of a donation to the “Red Swan” charity. Moreover, the Leoni Junior Group also assists in looking after new apprentices.