Delegation trips
To travel educates – this is especially true for VDWF delegation trips. The approximately one-week round trips to mostly distant countries are organized and managed by the office.
The program includes on-site visits to tool and moldmaking companies, the downstream series production and meetings with associations and politics oft he host country. This is how you can get an idea of the situation and the exchange with your (travel) colleagues is certainly not too short.
Questions about delegation trips?
Claudia Michel
VDWF branch office Schmalkalden
+49 (0)162 3567853
Write an e-mail / to the contact form
Japan 2024
The association visited the Land of the Rising Sun back in 2011. This year, a 25-strong tour group built on this experience and explored what has happened in the industry since the last visit and how the contradictions of Japanese society are reflected in the tool and mold making industry.
The VDWF trip provided deep insights into the contrasting nature of the country – both in society and in the world of work. But what can German toolmakers take away with them? Prof. Thomas Seul, President of the VDWF, sums up his impressions as follows: «Loyalty and diligence in the Japanese way of working are quite remarkable. Harmony, in the sense of the harmony of a functioning system as a whole, can be found here in technical terms as well as among the employees. People work in clear hierarchical structures, but for us, a dialog at eye level is an important aspect of our self-image when performing tasks in order to solve problems or drive innovation.»
According to Thomas Seul, German industry does not need to hide from the Japanese technological lead when it comes to automation either: «We are not quite as advanced as Fanuc or Amada when it comes to mass-produced components, but Germany is one step ahead when it comes to flexible automation solutions for one-off production.»
Article from VDWF dialogue 2/24
Japan 2011
The days with the Japanese hosts should give the 15-member group of the VDWF some amazing new impressions. At the first meeting with the representatives of the Japanese Tool and Mold Making Association, which has about 700 members, its president, Proffessor Tatsuhiko Aizawa, referred to the long common tradition between Germany and Japan. An important step for Japan´s development was the cultural opening about 400 years ago. And since the middle of the 19th century German products enjoy a very good reputation amongst the Japanese.
VDWF president Professor Thomas Seul has pointed out in his welcoming speech that both countries seem to show astonishing parallels not only historically but also in the present. The economies are struggling with almost the same problems in the globalized economy, both countries produce industrieal goods at the highest level, both cultures love research and tinkering and they have to focus on the knowledge of their people as the most important resource, noteworthy mineral resources play neither here nor there a role.
The VDWF travel group was able to experience the philosophy of Japan as a high-tech country with regard to mechanical engineering, production technologies and personnel management during the one-week journey.