Volkswagen Group honours 46 of its best apprentices worldwide

The Volkswagen Group has presented its ‘Best Apprentice Awards 2018’ to its best apprentices from all over the world, including India, honouring their outstanding performance and professional competence.

The prizes for the 46 young talents with 16 vocations was presented by the chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Dr. Herbert Diess; the member of the Board of Management with responsibility for Human Resources, Gunnar Kilian; and the president of the Global Group Works Council, Bernd Osterloh.

Among the global winners, Rahul Barhate, a mechatronics technician from Volkswagen received the Best Apprentice Award from the top management at Volkswagen in Wolfsburg, Germany for his brilliant performance and promise shown by him.

The VW Group presented apprentice awards to its best apprentices from all over the world, honouring their outstanding performance and professional competence last week on December 7, 2018 in Wolfsburg, Germany.

On receiving the award, Rahul (above: second from right), said, “The last four years at Volkswagen in Pune, India have truly laid the foundation of my career. I am poised enough that the learning's and the experiences gathered during my journey of these years in Volkswagen India will help me grow personally and professionally. I am thankful to Volkswagen for providing me this opportunity and I promise to make the best of it.”

Rahul underwent training in Mechatronics programme involving mechanical, electrical, robotics, hardware and similar aspects in car engineering as part of the German-styled dual apprenticeship programme run by Volkswagen India at its academy at its Pune plant. On completion of the programme earlier this year, Rahul was placed in the paint shop of plant and is doing his specialisation in paint shop production now. During his apprenticeship, he has also worked on projects like ‘roller cleaning unit’ and ‘maintenance and modification of bush pressing machine’. Post the win, Rahul will be attending the orientation programme at Skoda Head Quarters in Czech Republic.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Dr Herbert Diess, said: “You have every reason to be proud because you are among the world’s best apprentices of the Volkswagen Group. In the future too, we will need a team that is motivated, competent and committed, and also welcomes change. If you want to keep pace with the major challenges of our times, you must demonstrate flexibility and be ready to accept change.

Gunnar Kilian said, “Volkswagen offers almost 20,000 young people throughout the world excellent training in about 60 vocations and 50 dual courses of study. We have successfully transferred dual vocational training to locations throughout the world and train our budding specialists at our plants across the globe on the basis of this model. The award winners have made exemplary use of this training and laid a firm foundation for a successful career. Dual vocational training also lays solid groundwork in an era of rapid technological change which calls for continuous advanced training.”

Bernd Osterloh said: “I congratulate all the winners of the best apprentice awards from the Volkswagen Group who have come to Wolfsburg this week. Your outstanding performance is also the result of the high-performance vocational training offered throughout our group. This success clearly shows that we must not make any sacrifice in terms of vocational training despite all the current savings programs. Vocational training develops the specialists of the future. This is an essential prerequisite for shaping change together in the digital era with respect to development, production and mobility.”

This year’s Best Apprentice Award was the 18th of its kind presented by Volkswagen and a total of 523 apprentices have been honoured since 2001. 18 of the award-winners had already been honoured in their home countries for their commitment to their companies and for their knowledge and skills in their training vocations. 21 of the winners will be starting a degree course to develop their knowledge and skills in greater depth. Three of the award-winners from Germany will be receiving two years of individual support in their professional family within the 'talent group for young specialists.'