Daniel Gantz carefully strokes the wood of the doors he is currently installing. He has spent four weeks gluing, screwing and stapling. Learned which adhesive is suitable for which wood and how doors are fitted perfectly. Classic carpentry training content, in other words. But Daniel is not a carpentry apprentice at all, he is actually a desk worker.
As a designer, he plans modules – on the computer. “During my internship at the manufactory, I’m now getting to know the other side,” he reports. Job rotation is the buzzword that HR people like to use. The opportunity to take on new tasks and functions – either in rotation with another employee or from the perspective of an individual like Daniel.
“As a company, we see a huge opportunity for employees to expand their cross-divisional skills and knowledge in this way,” explains Jennifer Thomas, HR expert at Konrad Knoblauch. A fundamental concern of the fast-growing company is to promote professional development within employees’ own roles, while at the same time highlighting development opportunities. “This is exactly what brings innovation to the company,” says Jenny.
For Daniel, who has been working as a design engineer in the special construction department for a year, the opportunity to change jobs for four weeks is a real benefit. “Some time ago, I took over the planning of a furniture construction project that really pushed me to the limit,” recalls the 32-year-old. Although he studied interior woodwork in Rosenheim, he had never actually built furniture, but instead concentrated on modular construction.
“I really want to learn more about the carpentry trade”
“Suddenly I was responsible for several furniture sets and developed prototypes,” he reports. Furniture is much smaller, there are completely different things to consider and the subject was much more complex than he thought, says Daniel. Inevitably, he kept making mistakes in his designs. “That’s when I realized that I really wanted to learn more about how my plans were implemented so that I could deliver a good result to the carpenters myself,” explains the designer.
And before he knew it, his supervisor Andi Birnbaum offered him an internship at the manufactory – with everything that entails. He started work at 7 a.m., but then also had a craftsman’s snack at 9.30 a.m. Physically demanding work, very different from what Daniel usually does.
“On the one hand, carpentry is strenuous, but on the other, it’s also good to be physically active,” he says. And in between, he asked his colleagues questions about wood-dependent factors, milling speeds and gap sizes. “I now know better than ever that plans have to be 100 percent right, otherwise things will run smoothly in the manufactory,” he says.
Daniel’s appreciation of the carpentry trade has increased enormously, he says. “The social aspect should not be underestimated, because a change of perspective like this promotes informal relationships within the company and therefore also strengthens our corporate culture,” explains Jenny. An experience from which everyone – Daniel, his colleagues and the company itself – will benefit for a long time to come.
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