Erich Arnet, former employee of Umicore Galvanotechnik GmbH and Managing Director of the Center for Surface Technology Z. O. G. in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Interview: Robert Piterek.
Mr. Arnet, how do you look back on your working life after more than 40 years at Umicore?
If you do something, you should enjoy doing it. If you don't enjoy it, you should change jobs. I have enjoyed working at this company for 40 years. I was head of the sample production department there for 25 years. I was lucky enough to be confronted with all the processes and gain a lot of experience. I was also lucky enough to be involved in the development of electroforming, the production of hollow jewelry, from the very beginning, where I took over contract manufacturing relatively quickly. We sold the chemistry and the systems all over the world. I was therefore in North America, South America, the Arab world, Japan, China and Europe - on all continents. Because I always sold the same system, I was also able to familiarize myself with the way other countries work and learned that many roads lead to the same goal. It doesn't always have to be the Swiss exact or German correct way. Dealing with these different cultures has taught me a lot.
"Dealing with different cultures has brought me a lot!"
How did your career progress from there?
I spent the last twelve years in sales - a completely different job. But I was lucky that I was able to sell products that were good, which meant I could offer and sell something with a clear conscience. When you've been in the job for so long, you know what you're talking about. I see myself as a consultant, because anyone can sell chemicals, but they can't solve problems. That takes experience.
How did you become involved in training and further education?
Back then, we were already training our colleagues from all over the world. The employees of our agencies then also came to me. That was perhaps the foundation stone for my later involvement with Z. O. G. for training and further education in electroplating and surface technology.
What fascinates you about electroplating technology?
I don't think it's necessarily because of the subject, but because I've learned something that I enjoy and when I do something, I either do it intensively or I don't do it. I think that's my way of approaching something. It is of course the case that there are many more opportunities to work in a variety of ways in the electroplating industry compared to other areas. A chemist with a doctorate in the pharmaceutical industry researches the same drug for 20 years. And the world of electroplating is so big and there are so few specialists that you are really needed.
It is said that you are the reason for Umicore's leading role in decorative electroplating ...
Umicore is very lucky to be located in Schwäbisch Gmünd. The university, the technical school and the master school are all located within a radius of 20 kilometers. So Umicore has the opportunity to recruit extremely good staff from the schools. The knowledge I have doesn't come from me, it comes from the team. You have colleagues who are technically competent and you can exchange ideas with them. There are many competent experts. It's no mean feat to become a good specialist when you've been working in an industry for 40 years. What's more, I've been managing director of Z. O. G. for 25 years now. I don't know how many hundreds of seminars I've organized. I am one of the best-trained people in the industry, because I sometimes sit in the seminar room myself. My specialist knowledge has always expanded in this way too.
INFO
Erich Arnetworked for the former Degussa, now Umicore, for 40 years. He has a wide range of interests, enjoys traveling, has run half marathons, danced rock dance at the top of the world for a long time and is passionate about classic cars. For his "retirement", he can't imagine only tinkering with classic cars or traveling. "I'm still technically fit," he says. As long as that is the case, he would like to devote his energy to training and further education at Z. O. G.. In his free time, he likes to play the alphorn in the mountains and do a bit of sport on the side.
