Porsche has been educating trainees for 75 years

From the very beginning, the sports car manufacturer saw itself as a pioneer of training in the automotive industry. Learning content and training positions have been continuously adapted in anticipation of technical advances and societal developments. Even today, the dynamic nature of our training programmes is a crucial factor in integrating highly competent young employees into the workforce. Their resulting knowledge of e-mobility, connectivity, digitalisation and Porsche Production 4.0 makes them ideally equipped for the future.

In the anniversary year of 2017 alone, Porsche hired 200 trainees and dual study students at its site in Zuffenhausen. Currently there are around 600 participants in these schemes. They are receiving training in ten technical industrial roles and three commercial positions, and are enrolled in ten study programmes at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW). Following a EUR 30 million investment from Porsche, a new, state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-metre training centre has been the home of Porsche trainees since 2015. Virtual reality, augmented reality and sensitive robotics can be found there, as well as high-voltage and systems technology and a Porsche Production 4.0 mock training factory, where lightweight robots and digital assembly workspaces mimic genuine production processes.

For Andreas Haffner, Member of the Executive Board for Human Resources and Social Affairs at Porsche, the work of instructors and experts cannot be valued highly enough: “The employees trained by the company have played a large part in our successful history. Our history is unique because our employees have spent an important part of their youth at Porsche, so the Porsche culture makes a clear impression on them. Especially in times where the workforce has grown rapidly, this has provided the necessary stability to overcome the great challenges of the future with the strong feeling of togetherness that is typical of Porsche.”

The most important investment in the future

Porsche sees the vocational training not only as the most important investment in the future of the company, but also as a responsibility to society at large. In addition to the 200 regular trainees, each year 20 additional participants attend a preparatory year. These participants are young people who struggle to find any opportunities on the regular labour market, but will come out with the qualifications to start a trainee role at the Porsche training centre. A further 15 participants progress through the integration year, which prepares refugees for training or employment outside of Porsche AG

The Chairman of the General Works Council of Porsche; Uwe Hück, emphasises: “The Executive Board and the works council have always been in agreement that we need to invest in our young people and children. We aren’t talking about the general shortage of skilled labour, but we are nevertheless doing something to combat it by creating training places and permanently employing trainees once their education is finished. It is clear to us that new occupational fields are arising as a result of the changing times and digitalisation. We must therefore invest in qualifications. We need to make sure that all of our colleagues can find their place in this new era. We have a responsibility not only operationally, but also socially.”

Alongside Zuffenhausen, Porsche has been training young people at its Leipzig site for 15 years. In spring, Porsche Leipzig GmbH opened a new, 2,300-square-metre training centre, where 120 young adults are currently being trained in four different technical industrial professions. In addition, in future there will also be the opportunity to complete a dual study programme in the field of mechanical engineering.