WorldSkills Kazan 2019

The SwissSkills team for the WorldSkills Professional Championships, which take place from 22 to 27 August 2019 in the Russian Kazan, met from the 1 to 3 February in Davos for the first team weekend. The Swiss team competes in 40 different professions and consists of 42 participants, around 40 experts and other mentors and officials. The focus of the three days was on getting to know each other and the exchange between the candidates and experts. This took place in the form of joint group games, challenges and discussions as well as the elaboration of the future team slogan. Also on the agenda were photo sessions, fitting of the official delegation clothing and a medical and mental check-up. Our employee and former apprentice Thomas Schranz will compete for Switzerland in the category Polymechanics/Automation. In this professional category, the 20-year-old won first place last September at the Swiss Championships SwissSkills 2018 in Bern. Since October, Thomas has been preparing for the WorldSkills with test projects. He will compete in the field of conventional machining (drilling, turning, milling) and is training on the basis of test projects in the field of manufacturing, assembly and automation with tasks that have been assigned on previous WorldSkills.

At his workplace Thomas has the opportunity to train for the upcoming championships and improve his skills on about two days a week. In order to be able to train conventional machining directly on the machines used in the competitions, Thomas completes several internships ranging from a few days to several weeks in other companies with corresponding machinery. For example, he spent two weeks in the Studer AG automation apprentice workshop in Steffisburg, where he was able to intensively practice control programming and wiring technology. In order to improve his English skills, which are important when programming the control, Thomas is going to spend four weeks in Australia. During this time he will not only train his English but also the programming, as this does not require any tools, only a computer. A bit of time to relax and get to know the country is of course not to be missed, because the remaining months until the competition are already filled with more internships and events and leave little room for longer holidays.