News

Modern HR management – the key to success in competing for qualified engineering personnel

Seminar run by the Steinbeis Engineering Group

Experts from the Steinbeis Engineering Group will be joining external speakers from small and medium-sized companies to run a seminar in Stuttgart on May 23, 2014 on “Modern Personnel Management.” The event will provide pragmatic suggestions for introducing professional and powerful HR management tools which are aimed specifically at engineers.

Speakers:

  • Prof. Arndt Gottschalk, Steinbeis Transfer Center, Human Resources & Organisations (Baunatal)
  • Dr. Sabine Horst, Steinbeis Consulting Center, Competences. Communication. Cultures (Stuttgart)
  • Prof. Arno Voegele, Steinbeis Transfer Center, Production & Management (Stuttgart)
  • Further speakers from small and medium-sized enterprises

The high quality of many German products is primarily thanks to the developers, designers, and production engineers working at the “innovative heart” of companies. But increasingly, the key challenge is to find qualified personnel, deploy them appropriately, and inspire them to stay at a company. Few professions are proving so demanding for HR managers. Are we prepared as employers? Are we doing the right things? Are our companies appealing as long-term employers? What are the big trends in HR management at the moment? What prerequisites do employers need to fulfill, even at small and medium-sized enterprises? And what can a company do to remain or become attractive to “high potentials” in the battle against major companies to recruit staff?

The seminar offered by the Steinbeis Engineering Group focuses strongly on business practice, looking at all these issues in detail and addressing the questions that occupy SMEs in their everyday work. Also, the results of a study on these topics will be shared. It was conducted by the Steinbeis Engineering Group in collaboration with the Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences.

Contact

Prof. asoc. univ. PhDr. Arno Voegele
Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Produktion & Management (Stuttgart)

The Steinbeis Technology Day in Thuringia

Steinbeis enterprises showcase services in Ilmenau

At the end of last year, two Steinbeis directors working in Ilmenau – Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Gerhard Lins and Steffen Lübbecke – welcomed over 70 guests from the world of politics, science, and business to the first Steinbeis Technology Day in Thuringia.

The hosts had two good reasons to celebrate. Apart from the premiere of their specialist convention, they marked the official opening of the second Steinbeis House in Ilmenau and with it, their new company headquarters. The building will provide a new home for the Steinbeis enterprise specialized in quality assurance and image processing, with plenty of room for expansion. The site is directly next to the first Steinbeis House which has already been headquarters for several other Steinbeis enterprises for ten years.

There are currently 20 Steinbeis enterprises operating in Thuringia, four of which showcased their portfolio of services and live business projects at the Technology Day. Dr. Martin Gude, a departmental head at the Thuringia Ministry of Economics, congratulated Steinbeis for its success in Ilmenau. In his opening speech, he highlighted the need for business and science to work together more closely than in the past – the success of transfer as practiced by Steinbeis enterprises has been exemplary. Prof. Dr. Michael Auer, Chairman of the Steinbeis Foundation Board, outlined the key success criteria of Steinbeis transfer, emphasizing the significance of Steinbeis operations in Thuringia. Steinbeis has been working in the region since 1991 and is involved in successful collaborations with universities and local research institutions.

An exhibition organized by Steinbeis enterprises to coincide with the event gave visitors a hands-on chance to learn more about actual transfer projects and their results. There was also an opportunity to exchange notes and discuss common experiences over lunch – a successful culmination to a successful day.

Steinbeis development wins iF product design award

i/i/d is awarded for the new scrap shear and shredder generation of Metso Lindemann

Scrap metal may go on the scrap pile, but it hasn’t been waste for a long time. Scrap is a raw material used in a variety of recycling processes throughout the world to make steel. Metso Lindemann is one of the world’s leading producers of recycling units. In 2011, it called in the Steinbeis Transfer Center i/i/d (Institute for Integrated Design) to totally rethink and redesign their colossal scrap shears and shredders. The project earned the i/i/d the coveted international iF product design award from the Hanover-based service provider Industrial Forum Design.

The aim of the collaborative project was to develop an integrated and creative overarching concept for a uniform, progressive product hierarchy and design that not only creates an identity, but also optimizes all processes and gains high recognition. “The new machines convey a sense of robustness, durability, and longevity. They set themselves apart with a uniquely smooth surface that prevents dirt and dust buildup – almost unheard of for machines of this size. The build of the machines and the functions are finally visually comprehensible, thanks to a formal rundown of components that belong together,” explains Prof. Detlef Rahe, director of the i/i/d.

As well as optimizing all essential processes, the new generation of machines also enhances energy efficiency and reduces overall costs. Assembly, construction, maintenance, and cleaning are now all much simpler and the underlying concept is a good match with market, customer and user requirements. The operating principles are applicable worldwide and based on an innovative system that overcomes international language and qualification hurdles, makes controls safer, and helps monitor complex processes. Finally, improvements have also been made to specific tasks and operations in terms of safety, handling and work processes.

“Transferring the new product and operating concepts to all other machines and plants will gradually bring us closer to our long-term aim of achieving an individual, uniform corporate industrial design combined with ultimate functionality and efficiency, strong recognition, and user-friendly configuration, thus galvanizing Metso Lindemann’s position in the market,” explains August van der Beek, the long-standing head of engineering at Lindemann.

Share this page