Many companies in Switzerland hold a “future day” once a year. This event allows boys and girls aged 11 to 13 to swap their school desk for a work desk and spend a day at the company where their mother, father or another family member or friend works. It provides them with a “live” look at the world of work, giving them an opportunity to see what adults do all day long.
Muller Martini has participated in Future Day at its headquarters in Zofingen for many years. Each year, between 20 and 40 boys and girls receive an exclusive look behind the scenes of Muller Martini – and each event also includes an exciting program of additional activities. This year, my son Joël found out about the product management work I do at Muller Martini. The young “employees” were divided into six groups and then spent the morning manufacturing a functioning ball valve. Aside from a “ball run”, paper, adhesive tape and glue, the only other tool the participants had was their own creativity. Under the expert guidance of current apprentices, it took them less than three hours to come up with their masterpieces.
Next, the young people took a tour of our factory to learn about the production process. They were especially impressed with the size of the machines we build in Zofingen. The morning concluded with demonstrations of the Primera MC and Presto II saddle stitchers and the FlexLiner inserting machine, which are on display at our Print Finishing Center. The young people were astonished at how quickly the machines processed the jobs.
We had lunch together in the Muller Martini canteen and the children then spent the afternoon in the various departments. This allowed them to have a close look at the activities performed by the adults they were accompanying to work. Some of the pupils also had to interview an employee as part of a school assignment. All 31 boys and girls were tired at the end of the day, but they went home with a number of interesting impressions and a better understanding of the work performed at Muller Martini.
And how did the young people rate Future Day at Muller Martini? Here is what my son Joël had to say: “What I liked most was taking a look at the machine room with my father. The machines were incredibly fast and that was amazing. After that, I also got to check out the workstations in the office. Then I did an interview with a mailroom specialist for a school assignment. Future Day at Muller Martini was really cool and I would definitely do it again!”