Practical experience redefined: Regional companies offer inter-company internships

Overath, 24|11|2023 – Doing an internship at another company during your apprenticeship? Sounds unusual, but it has proven to be a successful concept for HEW-KABEL / Habia from Wipperfürth, BARLOG Plastics from Overath and the MÜLLER TEXTIL GROUP from Wiehl and their trainees. The co-operation, which has been in place since the beginning of this year, enables trainees and working students to complete an internship lasting several weeks in one of the partner companies.

Diverse experiences and exciting insights

The second round of this special project has already begun and three young trainees from commercial training programmes have been able to gain many exciting experiences and impressions. Elias, a working student and former industrial clerk apprentice at the MÜLLER TEXTIL Group, reports on his time at plastics technology expert BARLOG Plastics GmbH in Overath: “I’m very happy to have been able to take part in the cooperation, as a wide range of experiences are of great value at the start of a career. The time in the marketing department was particularly exciting for me. I already know this area from the theory of my studies and from my work in marketing at MÜLLER TEXTIL. I wanted to do my internship at BARLOG Plastics in this area as well to gain more practical experience in the field. Although the marketing tools are the same, the processes and core target groups of the two companies are very different. “We had an informative and idea-generating exchange of experiences with Elias and were able to discuss current marketing topics in depth and think them through further. This change of perspective also provided us as a company with exciting insights,” says Stefanie Bruns, Head of Communications at BARLOG Plastics.

Lena, an industrial clerk trainee at BARLOG Plastics, travelled from Overath to Wipperfürth when she spent two weeks at HEW-Kabel / Habia to get a taste of the company. “The trainee exchange at HEW-Kabel was very interesting. The insights into another company and being able to experience the different ways of working have a positive influence on my way of working and thinking in my job at BARLOG Plastics,” says Lena. “In addition to different products, there are also some similarities between the two companies: The structure of the ERP system and the processes behind it are very similar to ours. I am very grateful that I was able to take part in this exchange and hope that other trainees will be able to do the same,” adds Lena. “Lena quickly settled in with us. In dialogue with our trainees, we came up with the idea of making small adjustments to our careers page. We made these changes during the exchange. The change of perspective brought in by Lena proved to be extremely valuable,” says Dario Wittstock from HEW-KABEL / Habia.

Jannik is a trainee industrial clerk at HEW-KABEL / Habia and completed his internship at MÜLLER TEXTIL in Wiehl. The world’s leading manufacturer of spacer fabrics operates its headquarters and development centre in the Oberberg region, but mainly produces abroad. “As the site here is much smaller than that of HEW-KABEL and mainly new products are developed here, the distances are much shorter. Above all, the sales and development departments are in direct contact – if there are any product changes, you can just walk over to the development department and have a look at the customisation on site,” Jannik noted. New colleagues, a new product and a different way of working made his time in Wiehl an exciting experience. “The dialogue with young talents and the contacts at the cooperating companies is also valuable for us. We learn with and from each other. This makes the cooperation something special for everyone involved and we are already looking forward to the next round. Then again with trainees from the technical field,” says Elke Nentwich, Group Director Human Resource at the MÜLLER TEXTIL Group.

The co-operation not only strengthens the participating companies, but also the Oberberg business location by training young talent and retaining them in the region. BARLOG Plastics, HEW-KABEL / Habia and MÜLLER TEXTIL GROUP are proud to build a bridge to the future of young people with their commitment to practical and varied training opportunities and thus make a sustainable contribution to the development of skilled labour in the region.