Career Friday, held as part of the 29th Fakuma international trade fair for plastics processing, was a complete success in terms of promoting young talent. More than 500 interested young people took advantage of the invitation to visit the trade fair on 18 October 2024 and have a look behind the scenes of the plastics industry, establish contacts and explore opportunities for their own professional development.
“Career Friday” was a special highlight at this year’s Fakuma: The trade fair promoters, the exhibitor council and the exhibitors organised the campaign for pupils, students and young professionals in keeping with the motto “Mould Your Dreams, Mould Your Future”, in order to inform young people about career opportunities in the plastics industry and, at the same time, impart knowledge concerning plastics. The campaign was a huge success and sparked enthusiasm for everyone involved. Many exhibitors organised shuttle services, unusual activities, various thematic tours of the trade fair booths and unique glimpses behind the scenes of plastics processing.
“Career Friday was a highlight in Fakuma’s trade fair history,” declared Dr. Christoph Schumacher enthusiastically, head of global marketing at injection moulding machine manufacturer Arburg and member of the exhibitor advisory board. “This campaign is of tremendous significance in our estimation - for the individual participating companies, for young visitors to the trade fair and for Fakuma itself.” Arburg brought 30 apprentices and students to their booth and organised a number of activities for interested parties. The company was able to demonstrate how important the plastics processing industry will be for the future, and how urgently the industry needs committed young professionals.
The campaign sparked enthusiasm and is setting a precedent
“It was a great opportunity for young people to get to know our industry,” praised Michael Wittmann, owner and CEO of the Wittmann Group and a member of the exhibitor advisory board. Susanne Zinckgraf, head of marketing at Wittmann, was also delighted with the number of young people who took advantage of the offerings made available by Career Friday: “Career Friday is a great idea,” she confirmed. “I think that Fakuma has really set a trend with this event.” Young people showed great interest in the robots at Wittmann’s booth. Zinckgraf is convinced: “These are tomorrow’s mechatronics engineers. Career Friday is a great platform for actively tackling the shortage of qualified personnel and promoting a positive image for our industry,” said the marketing manager, who hopes that Career Friday will become a recurring feature in the future.
Enthusiasm for the campaign was no less evident at the trade fair booth operated by Austrian injection moulding machine specialist Engel. All day long on Friday, groups of students and their teachers were on site, mainly from the higher technical colleges (HTLs) in Vorarlberg, Bregenz, Dornbirn and Rankweil. They gathered information in a targeted and well-prepared manner on various topics related to their studies such as automation, plastics and manufacturing. Discussions were focused on technological aspects, as well as career opportunities after graduation. Highly interested pupils from secondary schools with a technical emphasis also gathered information from Engel. “A very interesting project,” summarised Stefan Engleder, Engel CEO, with regard to the campaign for attracting young talent.
Education, training and information
Bernd Schäfer, managing shareholder of Deifel Buntfarbenfabrik and member of the exhibitor advisory board, was also very satisfied. “Career Friday at this year’s Fakuma was one of the trade fair’s highlights.” Schäfer and his team welcomed a total of roughly 50 pupils and young people, and provided them with insights into the field of plastics and typical job profiles in a masterbatch company. “A great idea and very well organised,” said Fabian Heuel, division manager of sales at Technotrans Solutions, in praise of the campaign. The company combined the topic of refrigeration technology with cocktails for the young people and demonstrated a self-developed cocktail cooler that had been developed as part of the master’s examination for a mechatronics engineer in refrigeration technology.
