As of May of this year, the German machine tool industry employed a total of 64,925 people — this was 2% less than just a year earlier and according to Andre Wilms, managing director of the
Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau (foundation for training in mechanical engineering), there should be no let-up in efforts by industry to recruit young talent for the future. He said: “The shortage of skilled workers is currently being masked by the weak economy. I am convinced that this challenge will catch up with us very quickly.”
Mr Wilms is responsible for the special education showcase at
EMO Hannover 2025, where the Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau foundation will be welcoming over 850 secondary school students (Stand A30, Hall 7) from 22-26 September. He added: “That is a record and I am delighted. Young people seem to be increasingly interested in technical fields and they want access to good information before they start their careers. This is the ideal platform to provide them with exactly that.”
Together with 16 partners from the industry, the special education showcase at
EMO will once again offer an attractive programme. Training providers such as
WorldSkills Germany, which will host the final of the German CNC turning championship, and the
Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktionstechnik (German Academic Association for Production Technology) (WGP) are also involved.
Furthermore, three interactive formats have been designed to inspire young visitors and awaken their enthusiasm for technology — building a model F1 car, a career and technology trail with stations to try things out and the TECHventure rally organised by the WGP. Anja Schuhmann, a trainer at Traunreut-based Heidenhain, said: “Following on from our amazing participation in the student rally at
EMO 2023, we are enthusiastic about taking part again this year. We are convinced that practical and playful learning formats make it easier for young people to access technology and motivate them in the long term.”
Professors at the WGP have long feared a serious shortage of skilled technical workers and engineering students. They have therefore set up a young talent initiative to show young people how exciting and wide-ranging technical professions can be and to highlight the diversity of STEM degree courses. The rally under the motto of ‘TECHventure — Technology is more than just math’ is taking place for the second time at
EMO. It is one of several undertakings backed by the WGP to recruit young talent and is aimed at secondary school students.
Exciting conceptExperience to date has shown that everyone involved finds the concept exciting, from teachers and young people through to the participating exhibitors — with the result that more schools have registered for
EMO than ever before. The rally will therefore no longer be held on just two days, but on all five days of the trade fair, sometimes with two sessions per day. This means that at least five groups of 10 students each will roam the halls every day. Each group follows its own route — directed via mobile phone — which takes them to visit participating exhibitors and research institutes.
Pictured right: the Robocoaster from EMO exhibitor Kuka in Hall 6, Stand F23 is a special treat for all young visitors to the showThe companies Blohm, DMG Mori, Elha, Heidenhain, Horn, Profiroll, Spinner and Zoller, as well as the research institutes IOT Aachen, IWF Berlin, IFW Hannover, FBK Kaiserslautern and the WBK Karlsruhe are all taking part. The aim is to show the wide-ranging variety of potential careers available in the industry. Ronny Müller, head of sales and marketing at Blohm Jung GmbH in Hamburg, said: “It is important for us to get pupils interested in technology. We want to show them that machine tools and, in our case, grinding machines are high-tech and require collaboration between many different technical disciplines.”
The focus is on topics such as energy efficiency, climate-neutral production, new technologies for innovative products, the digitalisation of factories and the transformation towards a circular economy. Gerda Kneifel, the WGP spokesperson responsible for organising TECHventure, said: “The tasks of the rally show how production engineers in industry can influence society, people’s daily lives and our joint future.”
Accordingly, the tasks are as diverse as the production technology itself — in past rallies, for example, AI was used to calculate maggot populations. Looking at a combustion engine, young people were asked to estimate how many components it contained compared to an electric motor. Some groups were able to mill a ‘Connect Four’ game. It is a concept that has proven popular. In 2023, over 70% of young participants surveyed by the WGP stated that the
EMO had increased their interest in technology and that they could see themselves taking up a technical profession.