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Portrait Alexander Witt - Career Opportunities for Experienced Professionals at KHS

“Learning a technical occupation at KHS is useful for all those who wish to work on an international level.”

Alexander Witt

product support engineer and part-time student of electrical engineering | Department: Bottle Washer and Pasteurizer Product Center | Dortmund, Germany

What did you train as and what did you do next?

I started my training as a mechatronics engineer at KHS. While still training I was able to join the Bottle Washer and Pasteurizer Commissioning Department where I was also taken on once I’d finished my course. I then spent a further year training to become a commissioning engineer. During this time I did a number of hardware and software courses as the machines I work with are extremely complex and you need a certain amount of expertise to handle them. Programming skills are required, for example, so that you can make modifications on site for the customer. I also hold the CIC’s Commissioning Plus certificate as an instructor so that I can give courses for customers, as a brief introduction to the machinery isn't usually enough. Customers have to know how the machines are operated, what they have to watch out for and how they are to be cleaned and serviced. Qualifying as an instructor has thus opened another door for me, enabling me to give professional customer training courses. At the moment, alongside my work I’m studying to be a certified electrical engineer majoring in power engineering and automation technology at a distance-learning school. Since May 2019 I’ve been responsible for the Innopas and Innoclean products in Product Support. Here, I act as an interface between Sales and Design Engineering and help process customized offers. I can now apply my presentation skills learned when I worked as an instructor to support Sales when they advise our customers.

How did you come to choose this particular job?

Working in electrical engineering lies in the family. I thus came into contact with the subject early on and ultimately decided to explore this field for myself. At school I actually always wanted to be a dentist – but as you can see, this didn't happen! However, I am a kind of doctor if you like, but one for machines and not people.

What makes your job so interesting and is there anything special about it?

Learning a technical occupation at KHS is useful, especially also for all those who wish to work on an international level. You can take part in courses of basic and further training in house and the job of mechatronics engineer is in itself very diverse. I also travel a lot in my job especially. I’ve been to lots of places from Germany and Europe to Africa and Asia, including South Korea, Vietnam, China and Japan.

“You have to constantly further educate yourself, particularly if you have a technical occupation. This means things are never boring and you always learn something new.”

What are the challenges of the job?

As a commissioning engineer my job is to have the machines and their interfaces ready on time and knowledge has to be imparted. This is one of the challenges of my job. You’re also expected to manage alone and be independent following your induction period. It takes a little time for you to really get to grips with the job. On the other hand, you never stop learning as you should constantly further educate yourself. This is an absolute must, especially if you have a technical occupation in the day and age of digitalization. However, it’s never boring and you always learn something new.

What do you do in your free time? Is there anything on your wish list for the future?

In my spare time I do lots of sport and particularly like cycling and swimming. I’ve also been parachuting and could even see myself doing a course in this. I’d also love to learn to ride a motorbike. I’ll just have to see when I can find time for all this. At the moment I’ve plenty still to do with my studies and my job. If the opportunity arises, I’d like to travel to North America and Canada – and Australia would also interest me.

Site Dortmund in brief

Employees

1,300

Trainees

85

Average years of service with the company

18 years

Company premises

113,304 m2

Founded

1868

Product portfolio

Bottle washers, Pasteurizers, Labelers and inspection technology, Conveyor technology

KHS GmbH Juchostr. 20 | 44143 Dortmund | Germany