TPi May 2014

n What’s the most enjoyable and satisfying thing about working for your company in your current role? What does your work during an average day involve? Claudia Renz: I think everyone who works in exports values the international environment. We deal with companies from all over the world, which means that we also deal with people with different cultural backgrounds. This context makes our daily business extremely rich in variety and fascinating at the same time. n What is the toughest aspect of your job in the daily business and in general? What are the most difficult threats and challenges you have to cope with? Steffen Knese: There are a lot of possible pitfalls in our daily business. Examples would be changes in delivery times, unsatisfying quality of incoming goods, unexpected inspection results, etc. The most unfavourable pitfalls are those which are independent from our activities and can’t be directly influenced by us. To avoid these pitfalls STAROFIT set up a quality management system, including internal processes, a rigorous supplier selection, and meticulous testing of products to qualify for the STAROFIT-Standard. Christopher Klose: From my perspective, one of the toughest aspects of our job is the development of the prices in our sector. Frequently, low budget products are competing against our high quality products. Needless to say, this development is not new and results from a stronger competition in the market. We have to prove our reliability, flexibility and expertise every day to demonstrate that our products are top class and our services are excellent. following the global recession? What do you think the industry and governments in Germany (and Europe) can learn from the past few years? Claudia Renz: The development of the local tube and pipe industry is nearly parallel to the development of the local economy. There will always be up and downs, but every new development brings also new possibilities and challenges along. Christopher Klose: The only way to cope with this challenge is to diversify the business operations on markets, which are at most independent from each other. Companies have to be active in booming and vibrant areas, but it is also necessary to remain active in more mature markets. Especially small and midsized enterprises have to find their own niche to have a chance in the international competition on the global market. n How do you see the tube and pipe industry changing over the next five to ten years

n What advice would you give to someone trying to make a career as an engineer, for example, in the modern tube and pipe industry? If a student or young person wanted to get involved with your company what should they do and what should they study? Steffen Knese: In Germany, we offer young people the opportunity to do apprenticeships after school to learn how to work in a company in a specific job. This approach is the so- called “dual system”, which means that the apprentice works in the company and studies at a vocational business school. Generally, these programmes last for three years and are available for different jobs at our company. This combination of theory and practice is extremely successful and is becoming an “export hit” to other countries. Stefan Reiners: In particular, STAROFIT is very successful with this approach. Almost 90 per cent of our current staff started as an apprentice at STAROFIT. Apprentices at STAROFIT are already during the programme full-value employees. The different types of apprenticeship STAROFIT offers are well- planned programmes to become a fittings specialist step by step in his/ her job. We also enable our young employees to study (eg at university) besides the job. Since it was founded on 1 April 1975 by Rüdiger Klose (who continues as managing director to this day), STAROFIT has been a pipe trade specialist. The company focuses on the storage and distribution of elbows and butt-weld fittings made of steel and stainless steel. In Ganderkesee near Bremen, Germany, it has 20,000m² of storage space that houses fittings in more than 50,000 different sizes and more than 100 different materials – materials suitable for high and low temperatures, high pressures and aggressive media. Its products are used around the world in a range of industrial sectors, such as plant engineering, power station construction, shipbuilding, machine construction, pipe construction and petrochemistry. For more than 30 years, STAROFIT has specialised in butt-weld fittings. STAROFIT’s “full warehouse” policy – it has (virtually) everything in stock – provides its customers with a key market advantage.

STAROFIT Klose GmbH & Co KG – Germany Fax: +49 4222 9440 44 Email: info@starofit.de Website: www.starofit.de

58

Tube Products International May 2014

www.read-tpi.com