Special projects exclusively for trainees:
the AZUBI techdays 2025

From 4 to 6 June 2025, Wirtgen GmbH in Windhagen played host to this year’s AZUBI techdays – taking part this time around: 66 trainees from the brand headquarters of Wirtgen, Vögele, Hamm, Kleemann and Benninghoven.

Split into two phases, the construction project involved the rehabilitation of a 450-metre stretch of road and the construction of new kerbs. There was also a key focus on the intensive exchange of knowledge about Wirtgen Group machines, plants and technologies.

An unusual mission on the construction site

WINDHAGEN. The SP 33 advances slowly and gradually paves the kerb of the car park. What’s so unusual about that? Today, there’s a trainee from the Wirtgen Group on the operator’s platform of the machine, not a fully-qualified machine operator. This is because this unusual construction project gave the company group's youngest employees the opportunity to try out their skills. Or, to be more precise: 66 trainees from across the Wirtgen Group were able to translate what they had learned so far into practical experience on the actual machines. The trainees had already set up the machines on the factory grounds two days before the start. They established the total and reference station to ensure that the machine knew their precise location and the height at which they had to work. The base layer was also prepared by grading and consolidation to allow the trainees to begin paving on the second day of the AZUBI techdays.

Real road construction implemented by our trainees

Paving kerb as a permanent boundary to a new car park and a completely new road: that was this year’s work order for the second-year trainees from all brand headquarters of the Wirtgen Group in Germany. The participants took up the challenge under the supervision of 24 instructors and service engineers.

In preparation for the real-life road construction project, numerous workshops were held at which the participants presented a variety of projects and technologies to one another.

Sharing knowledge, working as a team and networking

In addition to the mutual communication of technical knowledge, the focus at the event was also on making personal contacts. ‘The sharing of knowledge and experience among the participants is quite fascinating – and how quickly they establish their own personal networks,’ explains Boris Becker, instructor from Wirtgen GmbH. The focus is not just on meeting people face to face, ultimately it’s also about recruiting young talent: ‘Of course, we have the ulterior motive that these young people are our company's future service engineers.’ There is also clear proof of the success of this concept: five of the technicians explaining the machines today were trained and qualified at one of the group’s brand headquarters.

True-to-life practical experience on the construction site

The programme of the three-day training event offered a combination of theory and practice. The trainees presented the machines and technologies of their respective product brands to one another in numerous workshops. Particularly for Kleemann, this was an ideal opportunity to demonstrate its MSC 952i EVO mobile screening plant ‘in the flesh’ and for Benninghoven to give a presentation about asphalt mixing plants and the asphalt production process. There was also a lively rotation of the groups between the two construction phases. While one group took care of the construction of new kerbs, the other faced the task of paving the new asphalt surface layer on Hallbacher Strasse with a length of 450 metres and a width of 5 metres. The Wirtgen milling machines W 120 Fi and W 50 Ri had already milled off the existing road surface the day before. It was now time to start paving. With a total of 90 trainees, instructors and technicians who assisted the teams on the construction sites, the scene was always rather busy. Even while they were waiting, the trainees paid close attention to what the machines could do and how they were set up for work.

The first crew to work on the Vögele SUPER 1900-5i paver was exclusively female. Samira took over the controls on the operator’s platform, while Celine operated the screed. Their brief: paving the 4-centimetre thick surface layer. On the other side of the road, the Hamm HD 10i and HD 12i rollers compacted the newly paved asphalt. A HD 70i is parked on the roadside, ready to play its role in the project. Several trainees sweep the surface clean, while others remove the excess asphalt from the roadside with shovels.

What counts most of all here, is the ability to work independently and as part of a team. Accompanied by their instructors, this special training concept is not only extremely practical. The main objective of the format is to promote team spirit, communicative capabilities, independence, a sense of responsibility and personal initiative.

A format with tradition and real highlights

For several years now, the AZUBI techdays have been held in rotation at the group’s brand headquarters in Windhagen, Ludwigshafen, Tirschenreuth, Göppingen and Wittlich. Each of the factories brings its own highlights at the event – this year, it was working with the new slipform paver SP 33.

Proud of the results

The trainees take such experiences home with them at the end of the three days. But before they can, the edges along the kerb between the road and the car park have to be worked over by hand with a trowel to fill in all the remaining cracks and smooth out the bumps.

The trainees proudly view the successful results of their hard work, because thanks to them the first traffic will very soon be rolling over the resurfaced Hallerbacher Strasse.