Can we go back to school after more than 20 years spent in a factory filling bottles. What are the benefits and challenges of such an approach for both the employee and the employer? During the German Federal Government’s “Corporate Social Responsibility” awards ceremony in Berlin on September 17, 2014 (c.f. article No. 8600), Armin Baust head of human resources at the family run company VILSA-Brunnen explained how sixteen older members of their staff with no former educational qualifications had each taken up an eight month fast track professional training course via ‘WeGeBAU’ (training measures implemented by the Federal Employment Agency). Armin Baust agreed to explain the details of this particular project to Planet Labor along with other initiatives that placed the company among the five finalists for the CSR Prize 2014 in the 1-499 employee category for SMEs.
Training needed to address new technologies. At the site of a millennia-old source of mineral water, in the commune of Bruchhausen-Vilsen in Lower Saxony in northern Germany, also sits an ultra-modern factory with seven high volume bottling lines. The factory belongs to VILS-Brunnen Otto Rodekohr GmbH & Co. KG and is one of the largest mineral water producers in Germany. Every year the factory fills more than 600 million bottles. In the summer heat waves production levels sometimes rise as high as 2.5 million bottles per day.
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