A German champion visits MJ in Plettenberg
We were delighted to welcome a real German champion to our premises in Plettenberg! Joel Mann from Annaberg-Buchholz in Saxony is 23 years young and can confidently be described as a real high-flyer in the scaffolding trade.
He first came into contact with the trade as a “holiday worker” at the company where he would later train, and after completing his A-levels he started his apprenticeship at Andreas Süß Gerüstbau GmbH in Schwarzenberg. Joel completed this apprenticeship with such great success that he was invited to the ‘German Craft Skills Championships’ in November 2023 as the best in his year. The competition took place at the Bau Bildung Sachsen-Anhalt training centre in Magdeburg.
The state winners of the final examinations in winter 2022/2023 and summer 2023 were eligible to take part. Nine state winners were invited, five of whom took part in the final round.
Various theoretical and practical examination elements had to be completed. The state’s best candidates took on these challenging tasks, and in the end the results were very close. However, one of them came out on top:
Joel Mann emerged as the overall winner of Scaffolding 2022/23. Congratulations to him!
Joel was invited to visit Plettenberg by Andreas Freinatis, a veteran of Süß Gerüstbau in Schwarzenberg, who is naturally very proud of his former trainee’s achievements. Together, the guests took a look at MJ production at our Plettenberg sites. The guests were thoroughly impressed: “It’s really interesting to see how the steel is turned into the finished scaffolding component step by step”, says Joel Mann. “It gives you an even better understanding of the functions of the components and teaches you a lot about how they can be used.”
‘You don’t see modern production with the use of robots and laser technology every day,’ adds Andreas Freinatis.
Since achieving the German championship in November, the young scaffolder has not been lazy. In May 2024, he successfully passed his examination to become a master scaffolder! So where does the journey take the 23-year-old? “My goal now is to gain as much experience as possible”, says Joel.
In recognition of this great overall achievement as a young scaffolder, Thomas Clauss, Sales Manager Saxony, and Markus Winkelsträter, MJ Sales, presented Joel Mann with a personalised scaffolder’s standing table. ‘It might be inaugurated this weekend. Thank you very much,’ said our guest happily. Thank you also for your visit to the factory!