“Women consciously choose a STEM profession and are highly committed to it!”
Bergisch Competentia, May 2020
Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik GmbH is innovative, internationally active, modernly managed – and in one aspect quite “classic”: it is predominantly men who work in the technical professions. The Bergisch-based company is keen to change this and is increasingly targeting women when promoting young talent.
Welder Lisa Wittke works in assembly at Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik GmbH. Her training in her “typical male profession” was a logical step for her personally: “My father is a metalworker, I always helped a lot at home and wanted to do something with my hands,” she says. After her school internship in a metalworking shop, the course was finally set for her and she looked for an apprenticeship at a company in Solingen in 2008. Since then, the industrial mechanic has gotten to know several companies. With one exception, she has always been outnumbered as a female specialist. She finds this noticeable, but not problematic: “I’ve never had the impression that I’ve been treated at a disadvantage in any way,” she says. Sometimes you can feel that women are making a difference to the staff. But then more in a positive way: The interactions within the team are improving, and this is not accompanied by less confidence in the subject matter. She has been an employee at the specialist for grinding and polishing technology in Kohlfurth since 2017 and has already raised the proportion of women a little.
AWAKENING ENTHUSIASM FOR EXCITING PROFESSIONS
The Bergisch company mainly employs men. With a share of less than 10 percent, women are underrepresented in the technical area – albeit involuntarily. “We would like to have more women in our company and are particularly open to their applications,” says Dr. Andreas Groß. As Managing Director of the internationally active company, he is personally committed to promoting young talent and also explicitly addresses young women, for example with Girls’ Day. However, it has never been difficult to find young talent. With around 70 interns and a few female interns and a broad commitment to junior universities, schools and colleges, the company is confidently positioning itself as an attractive trainer and employer. The Managing Director talks to the interns personally to get to know them. Those who are interested usually have a good chance of finding an apprenticeship. “We are not a production company, we are all about higher technology, development and design. We make our exciting professions tangible. Many people can’t imagine what it involves at first and are really enthusiastic when we show them how a robot is moved using programming,” says Dr. Groß, who is an electrical engineer himself and is “on fire” for his profession.
At Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG, women have exactly the same development opportunities as men. “Our female specialists and our female engineers do not need to prove themselves in any special way or seek recognition,” emphasizes Dr. Andreas Groß, referring to a highly qualified female engineer as a top performer in the company. Lisa Wittke can also confirm this in her department. She can carry out her job with exactly the same self-confidence with which she chose it.
www.wuppertal.de/microsite/competentia/medien/bindata/MIM_Heinz_Berger_Maschinenfabrik.pdf