ENGEL apprentice wins ‘Best Female Engineer’ award

An apprentice at ENGEL Austria has been recognised for her skills and dedication with two awards at an industry event.

Budding design engineer, Sara Brandstätter, not only secured first place in her occupational category in this year’s competition for apprentices organised by the Economic Chamber for Upper Austria – she also won a special award for the best female trainee in a skilled technical trade.

An additional ENGEL apprentice, Raphael Pechhacker, was also recognised with second place in the machining technicians category.

“This has been an outstanding result overall – we are proud of our talented young people,” commented Josef Wahlmüller, Training Manager at ENGEL Austria.

Every year, ENGEL takes on 45 new apprentices in Austria, training them as mechatronic technicians, machining technicians, mechanical engineers, plastics technicians, materials technicians, design engineers, surface technology specialists and warehouse logisticians.

Wahlmüller explained that the success of this year’s apprentices shows the value of having internal training programmes within the plastics industry.  “The success of our apprentices confirms that our training efforts are on the right track,” he added.

“With a retention rate of 98 percent, in-house professional training is critical in terms of securing skilled positions,” said Wahlmüller. “At the same time it enables us to enhance our company’s international competitiveness.”