The Master Craftswoman

“As a team leader in production, I provide support, and am a port of call for my employees’ needs, worries and concerns. They come by if they have something on their mind. That’s important to me and it motivates me to know that they are doing well, that they enjoy working in the team and that I’m getting to know them better. That mutual trust makes my job really enjoyable. At the same time, of course, I also love my operational work. My area of responsibility is the cheese dairy and as a deputy I’m also responsible for the plant room. I work and evaluate the production data, looking at how production went, and how the laboratory data looks. I ask questions like where can we change something to improve? Where do I need to intervene? The great thing about my job is that it’s so versatile. I’m in contact with the employees and am involved in production, but I also organize and plan, which I really enjoy. So it never gets boring.

I get a jolt when something goes wrong, perhaps a machine has no steam for example, or a defect, or there’s not enough raw material. I have to think carefully to plan and reschedule everything. Those are challenging times and I don’t look forward to them, though they do shake up the daily routine.

It’s nothing to make a big fuss about, but as a master craftswoman, I have a lot of advantages. I grew up on my parents’ dairy farm near Edewecht and we always sent our milk to DMK, then to Nordmilch, so I learned about the dairy at an early age. In Edewecht, I also trained as a dairy technologist, then I went to train at the dairy science school in Oldenburg. I really have to say a special thanks to DMK here: For the training I was given a funding contract and received financial support from the company for the entire time, and was released from my work.

It meant I could totally concentrate on my course. I had already realized during my training that I did not want to be a journeyman as I like to study and learn new things, and that shift work wouldn’t suit me in the long term. So I had already decided during my apprenticeship to go to the dairy science college. After further posts at DMK, I became production manager at DMK Bergen on the island of Rügen. My department manager asked me whether I could imagine taking over production management until the site there closed. I was a bit unsure at first as Rügen is quite a long way from Edewecht and I had no experience of a job like that. I was only 24.

But in the end I gathered up my courage and took the post. It was the best decision! I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to gain so much experience in such a completely new environment. Today I’m team leader in production at Müritz Milch in Waren. Things worked out for me – and that’s what I want to share with young people. My aim is to get young people excited about our company and the exciting job of dairy technologist.”