Training is the Key to Growth
BAUER Elektroanlagen has been steadily growing for years
Key to the success of the family-owned company is the high share of apprentices of 20% and the continuous skill development of its employees. Almost every second person on the staff learned his or her trade at BAUER. There is a strong sense of this dynamic in Adlershof. Ever since the “Mittelstand” company (SME) moved into its new building two years ago, the number of employees has risen to 120 – 25 of them are apprentices.
”We are growing organically,” explains Franziska Bauer. When looking at the company’s financial highlights, it is clear that the manager of the BAUER Elektroanlagen Gruppe does not say “organic” and mean “slow”. Between 2002 and 2015 alone, the family business from Buchbach in Bavaria grew from 397 to 900 employees and tripled its revenue from 50 to 150 million euro.
What exactly does the entrepreneur, who set BAUER on the course of dynamic growth together with her husband Franz, mean by “organic growth”? When in fact the company has opened new branches in Leipzig, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Landshut, Düsseldorf, and Berlin in the last ten years and expanded the branches in Munich and Buchbach? We dig deeper: the entrepreneur does not think growth in terms of branches, but in terms of employees. They are the foundation of success. Only if they internalise the spirit, the service approach, and the expertise of the family business will customers stay fully satisfied and return. BAUER grows organically with its staff.
The manager describes her company as a service company. This is unusual considering the range of business activities: BAUER Elektroanlagen equips office buildings, airports, hotels, clinics, industrial facilities, research centres, or even ships with electrics and security technology from one source. This includes energy supply, electrical equipment, low and medium voltage systems, lighting, fire detection systems, access control systems, video surveillance, and dynamic guidance systems in buildings. It also includes data technology and the whole field of building automation. A mix of traditional craft and advanced technology. Nevertheless, to Bauer, it all comes down to service. “Our customers need turn-key solutions from one source. They want to move into a building with equipment that works flawlessly, not deal with details,” she says. In order to do this, the company needs employees who work self-reliantly, openly, and skillfully.
Ideally, these employees are trained directly by BAUER, where they learn the technology from scratch and internalize the standardized processes, which are continuously optimised with improvements suggested by the staff itself. Last but not least, employees grow into their craft with the core values of BAUER family.
Dennis Ellwart, head of the Berlin branch, shares these ideals. But he is also aware of the efforts required by the instructors every day. “Many trainees come from the schools with large gaps. We employ a teacher who is busy making up for neglected lessons two days a week,” he tells us. In some cases, instructors have to persuade their trainees not to give up using unusual methods. This can go as far as picking up apprentices from home in the morning.
Out of 120 employees in Berlin – in the beginning there were 35 in Adlershof – 25 will complete an apprenticeship as an electrician or technical systems technician, or leave with a business administration degree.
The company excels due to this approach of continuous learning and refreshing of knowledge. The apprenticeships deliberately interweave theory and practice, so skills go from the hands to the head – and back. The quality of education has gained a good reputation. “Every year, two or three apprentices come to us from other companies, where it just didn’t work,” Ellwart tells us. BAUER supports them until they become “BAUER”: self-reliant, competent, and skilled in dealing with customers. “With this goal in mind, the effort is worth it,” says Ellwart.
This has been clear to Franziska Bauer ever since she took the wheel with her husband in 1968. Her two children Alexandra Unterholzer and Franz Bauer haven since taken over command and are staying on course in matters of training and skill development.
By Peter Trechow for Adlershof Journal