Well-positioned for life on the ground and ready for take off soon

When I was born in 2001, my father was just starting his new job at Muller Martini. Today, at the age of 53, he still enjoys the versatility of his profession as a hardware designer, while, at the age of 18, I am a business administration apprentice who is responsible for the Muller Martini website and I am dreaming of becoming a pilot. 

At home around the kitchen table, the company is always a topic of conversation. At lunch, my father and I briefly tell each other what we are currently working on. Even my mother gets involved now when we talk about work. We used to talk a lot more about the company when my sister Malin was doing her logistics apprenticeship at Muller Martini. 

We don't have a lot to do with each other in our actual day-to-day work. We bump into each another from time to time at the coffee machine, but the only time we had any business contact was during my assignments in the HR department and Sales.

As a business administration apprentice at Muller Martini, I change departments every six months. I've already worked in Purchasing, HR and Accounting, for example. Now the Marketing department is my home. I'm responsible for Muller Martini's website, uploading blogs and press releases and keeping an eye on corporate design. There are, of course, guidelines for this, but I do have some leeway. For example, I can decide for myself which quotations I highlight and where I place them. I really like working with text and graphic elements, and I also like the responsibility that comes with the task. 

Focus on the final apprenticeship examination
I could imagine writing blogs myself, but preferably at some time in the future, because I've got enough to do at the moment. The focus of my third and last year as an apprentice at Muller Martini is the final apprenticeship examination. One of the tasks is to describe internal processes. For example, I have to show all the work that goes into a Muller Martini blog, describing every step it takes from the idea through to going live on the website. Another task is to imagine a new machine that doesn't even have a name. 

To do this, I have to contact the technical department and get the necessary information. I have a good technical understanding, which certainly helps me in such matters. What I don't have is spatial sense. What's more, during my trial apprenticeship as an automation engineer, I discovered that my practical skills were very limited. My father, of course, knows this as well, and when I was choosing a career he recommended the following: “You're best at doing something that doesn't focus on motor skills.”

My father once wanted to become a machine draftsman, just like my grandfather, but then he did an apprenticeship as an electrical technician (now an electrician). He then worked for the Zofingen-based machine factory Hämmerli, which no longer exists. Soon after, he took on his first job at Muller Martini. From 1987, and for three and a half years, he created electrical drawings for series assembly in production planning. This was followed by ten years in operational maintenance at Franke in the neighboring town of Aarburg, a world-famous supplier of products for household kitchens, canteens and the hygiene sector, before returning to Muller Martini in 2001, the year I was born.

At that time, he worked as a test mechanic – now he is a hardware designer. My father has been working on the construction of control cabinets and operating elements for eleven years. As a hardware designer, he acts as an interface between software engineering and mechanics. “I don't have to reinvent the wheel, yet it's always very varied,” he explains. “I like the variety that comes with new designs, on the one hand, and adaptations to existing systems on the other.”
 

René Siegrist (53) is a trained electrician and works as a hardware designer for Muller Martini. His son Niklas is 18 years old and in his third year of his business administration apprenticeship. He is currently working in the Marketing department at Muller Martini.
 

We influence each other
I have a close, very good relationship with my father. We talk a lot to each other, each influencing the other in a certain way. For example, I was the driving force behind the latest car he bought, simply by registering him for a test drive. He, on the other hand, has a lot to say when it comes to music styles. When he was young, he was even DJ "Sigi" at the Disco Circle in Zofingen. He prefers hard rock music, at home he often plays Virgin Rock radio station as well as bands like Iron Maiden and Krokus. It's hard to believe that he attended a Modern Talking concert in Lucerne in the 1980s. I like rock and electronic music, had five years of keyboard lessons and have been playing the piano for four years.

The fact that my father works for Muller Martini certainly played a role in my choice of employer, and it was through him that I knew about the company's world-famous reputation from a very early stage. When choosing a career, however, I took care of everything myself, for example, communicating independently with the responsible people at Muller Martini. I attended an information event and first thought about doing an automation engineer apprenticeship. Afterward, I went to the Future Days with my father and my godfather, a painter. In the end, I did two trial business administration apprenticeships, one at Muller Martini and another at an insurance company. 

Of all the professions, I liked business administration the most. It offers so many possibilities. I can well imagine doing further training in the area of accounting/controlling/trusts. “You shouldn't wait too long with this,” my father likes to say. Over the years, he himself has attended numerous courses, including in automation, pneumatics, hydraulics and robotics. Nevertheless, he sometimes has regrets about his career: “Perhaps I should have started further training earlier.”
 

Childhood dream airline pilot: it can begin soon
My wish is to stay with Muller Martini after I've completed my apprenticeship in 2020, it would be ideal as an interim solution until military service. Then I'll try to make my childhood dream come true: I want to be an airline pilot. Flying has always fascinated me, my father says that I used to watch the airplanes in the sky from my pram. I have already acquired some knowledge from books, the internet and adventure days at the airport. The route is clear: After military service, which I expect to complete in the winter of 2020/21, I will register with Swiss airlines for the suitability test. If I pass it, nothing will stand in the way of training to become a pilot.

Father likes to indulge in the past now and then: “30 years ago, Muller Martini was the employer par excellence here, a model company that my friends always raved about. The fact that economic upheavals then brought about enormous changes comes with the times.” In his view, Muller Martini has now stabilized at a good level. He is confident, but cannot completely ignore certain fears about the future. He is worried about the situation on the market. That's why, he feels all the more compelled to personally stay up to date and observe his motto: “If you don't keep learning, you'll forget how to learn.” I've remembered that motto.



Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: Are you interested in one of Muller Martini's many vocational training courses? Then visit the training page at the Muller Martini website (only in German).

Thank you for your interest!


Your
Niklas Siegrist
Business administration apprentice at Muller Martini in Zofingen