AUSTRIA: ‘If we need skilled employees, it is up to the company to train them and invest in the qualification of its young talent’, Plasser & Theurer CEO Johannes Max-Theurer said at the opening of a €1m apprentice training centre at the track machine manufacturer’s Linz site.
Apprentices have access to modern milling and turning machines, welding stations, training workstations with drilling machines, grinders and other small machines as well as lab benches for mechatronic and electronic engineering apprentices. There are training rooms and CNC programming stations, as well as office space for apprentice trainers and staff.
Apprenticeships on offer
Plasser & Theurer is currently training 71 apprentices, eight of whom are female, in eight different apprenticeship trades and with a guaranteed job:
- Electronics - applied electronics;
- Electrical engineering - energy technology;
- Mechatronics - automation technology;
- Metal technology - mechanical engineering;
- Metal technology - steel construction and welding technology;
- Metal technology - machining;
- Design - mechanical engineering;
- Procurement.
Plasser & Theurer took on 22 new apprentices in September, and applications for apprenticeships starting in September 2026 open this October.
‘Here, at an internationally successful company, young people are given the opportunity to complete a high-quality apprenticeship in future-oriented professions’, Linz Mayor Dietmar Prammer said at the opening of the training centre on September 22. ‘Such initiatives strengthen the innovative power of our city, while at the same time creating long-term perspectives for young people and securing skilled employees for the future.’
Assembly workshop
Meanwhile, work is underway on a €60m workshop in Linz which is scheduled to be completed in July 2026 and go into full operation in early 2027.
This will be used for the final assembly and commissioning of E³ track construction and maintenance machines with hybrid drives. It will create 80 new jobs, and Plasser & Theurer is looking to recruit mechanical and electrical/electronic engineers.
Austria under pressure
‘Despite the difficult economic situation in Austria, which is currently affecting many companies, including us, we are investing in our future right now and creating new jobs’, said Max-Theurer.
However, he said ‘Austria as a business location has come under pressure: comparatively high energy costs, high non-wage labour costs, a shortage of skilled workers and a huge amount of bureaucracy. Especially for us as a highly export-focused company, competition in the global market has become increasingly tough recently. We feel it enormously, and this is where sensible policy with good judgement is required.’
