In your opinion, what makes Evonik the employer of the future? 

When it comes to issues like achieving climate neutrality and reducing carbon emissions, Evonik is right at the forefront. Our entire production process uses exclusively renewable energy, and we develop new methods every day to further reduce our environmental footprint. In addition to those important issues, though, another thing that sets an employer apart for me is its relationship with the employees. I know that Evonik always stands behind its employees. Its constant growth, the development and plant expansion at the Schörfling site, and the continuous modernization at the Lenzing site make Evonik especially attractive to me. No company invests that much time and money unless it believes in itself and in the product. The opportunity for further development is another important issue! 

When I started out in 4-shift operations, I got to observe every production area. I was really excited about the modular construction department. But that wasn’t the end of it for me! I wanted to develop further, so I asked my supervisor what opportunities were available. My supervisor passed my inquiry along, and I was able to train as a chemical process engineer. That gave me incredible insights into engineering and a much better understanding of the systems. The foreman training builds on that knowledge and will take me to an even higher level. 

Team power is a huge priority in Schörfling! How do you grow your team spirit? 

The most important thing is open communication! During weekly meetings, employee training, teambuilding exercises, and whenever there are any changes or problems, all the employees are gathered together if possible and we talk about it and have a discussion. Lots of things can be avoided just with open communication, and that’s what we have in our team/OBIGGS division. Our colleagues do things together outside work too. We go out to eat, play laser tag and darts, go skiing… Another thing that makes the team one of a kind is that two other colleagues and I have been there since the start, and I trained and supported all of the people who joined after us. So of course that makes our team spirit much stronger.  

The Schörfling site has been growing steadily. Tell us more about it! 

A few years ago, Evonik invested in a building that now houses new offices, our technical center, engineering, and OBBIGS production. Last year they rented another building on the other side of the street, which gave us additional offices, meeting rooms, and storage spaces along with more room to grow. Last year we also got the new hollow-fiber spinning line, which went into operation early this year.  

My day-to-day work varies widely! There are days when I work in the office and days when I support my colleagues in Production. I deal with organizational things every day, whether it’s for the Production team, for maintenance issues, training, security issues, audits, TPM, or writing work instructions… there’s a little bit of everything. No two days are alike! And that’s what I love about it – every day brings new and different challenges. Every day is like its own little project.