What you will be doing
Machining means removing material from a blank until exactly what is needed is left. Sounds simple. It gets interesting when the tolerance is a few hundredths of a millimetre and the part later becomes part of an instrument that helps a person.
Here you stand at real machines early on and work on real customer parts — with guidance, but with real responsibility. You will not be parked in a training workshop; you are part of the production team.
What you will learn
- ✓
Reading technical drawings — and understanding why they say what they say.
- ✓
CNC turning and milling machines: setting up, operating and programming them.
- ✓
Materials science and metrology — what you cannot measure, you cannot make.
- ✓
Batch production and one-offs of components for surgical instruments.
- ✓
Quality assurance and documentation to DIN EN ISO 13485 — in medical technology every step has to be traceable.
What you bring
- ✓
A good secondary school leaving certificate (Hauptschule or Realschule).
- ✓
An interest in engineering and a liking for working with your hands.
- ✓
Solid maths and a feel for technical things.
- ✓
Good German (essential) — vocational school, the shop floor and all the paperwork run in German.
- ✓
Care, patience and reliability — in this trade that counts for more than any top grade.
A note on language: everything here happens in German — the machines, the documentation, talking things through with your team, and the lessons at vocational school. So you need good German to get through the apprenticeship. If you are not sure whether yours is good enough, just call and talk to us; five minutes on the phone will tell us both.
Our advice
Do a work experience placement first. A day at the machine tells you more about the trade than ten websites — including when it makes you realise it is not for you after all. That is a perfectly good outcome, and it costs you nothing but a phone call.
What we offer
- ✓
Named people to turn to instead of an anonymous training department.
- ✓
Real customer parts from your first year.
- ✓
Vocational school in the region — no moving house, no hours of travelling.
- ✓
30 days' annual holiday and free mineral water, coffee and fruit.
- ✓
We aim to keep you on once you qualify — we train apprentices in order to gain skilled staff.
- ✓
Where it can lead: technician, master craftsperson, quality assurance, surgical instrument making — if you want to go further, you get support.
About the apprentice pay
Apprentice pay rises with every year of your apprenticeship. We are happy to tell you the actual amounts on the phone or in an interview — do just ask, it is one of those questions everyone should be asking.
How to apply
A CV and your last two school reports are enough. A covering letter is welcome but not a condition. If you are unsure whether your grades are good enough: just send them — we will tell you honestly how we see it.
