German Firm Launches Training Programme for Kenyan Service Technicians

German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer, Krones, has launched a training programme for Kenyan service technicians modelled after the German Ausbildung program. This comes after Kenya’s president’s visit to Germany when he pledged to encourage further knowledge transfer from Germany.

As part of a subsidised Private Public Partnership (PPP) of the German government, Krones AG together with Coca-Cola Sabco and the training provider Centurion Systems has developed a training programme for Kenya modelled on the German sandwich course concept . Under this scheme, young people right out of high school will be taught everything they need to know to commission, overhaul and maintain packaging and bottling lines of food and beverage producers.

“Though there is in fact a tried-and-tested education system in Kenya, it doesn’t correspond to German standards, focusing as it does mainly on theory, and neglecting the practical aspects involved – not least because often there is simply no state-of-the-art equipment available for practising,” explains Claudia Klebensberger, whom Krones has put in charge of the HR aspects of this project.

But it’s precisely here that the training programme from Krones comes in: the apprentices participating in the two-year programme spend a large part of their time directly at the machines – either on the training premises of the LCS Center in Nairobi, where customers’ staff are trained or in the various plants where they work side by side with experienced technicians.

The Kenyan government has also taken note of the program having visited the LCS Centre in 2016, where they went to familiarise themselves with the program. The German government continues to subsidise the project through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The training program by Krones will also be rolled out in Nigeria and South Africa. The first batch of graduates from the program will be graduating this July.