The moment
when lives
are saved
begins with you.

Kerstin, what are you working on?

I check the PANTHER at Station 6 before it leaves for quality assurance. It is currently down to me to find any possible errors. And if anyone needs help configuring it, I'm at their side.

What do you do as part of your troubleshooting?

For example, when I turn on the blue light, the blue light should actually light up. If that doesn't happen, I look into what caused it. I check if the connections fit, if the key configuration is correct, if the power is connected everywhere and so on. My workplace includes a tool cart and a laptop.

When was it obvious to you that you wanted to work in a technical profession?

For me, there has never been anything else. It gives me pleasure when I can work with my hands – contrary to many opinions and prejudices that say a technical profession is more difficult than others. I think every person should choose a profession that excites them. But everyone should decide for themself what that profession is. I am now working towards being the plant foreman for mechatronics. Three times a week I go to night school. I do this training primarily for myself, but I think it's great that Rosenbauer is supporting me financially and taking over the second year.

How did you start working at Rosenbauer?

I knew about Rosenbauer from my brother, who also works here. I took advantage of days off from school to get an idea of what was going on. I wanted to make sure I enjoyed what I was learning.

Are you aware of what your everyday work can achieve – namely saving lives?

Recently, when I see a PANTHER on television during a successful call-out, I think to myself: ‘Okay, I work on that every day’. It's cool that I can help people this way. When the vehicle works as it should, that's a good feeling.

What has been your Rosenbauer moment?

The month I spent in America after the final apprenticeship exam. I gained an insight into how people work and was able to help set up production of the PANTHER. I was able to pass on my knowledge, which was rather emotional for me.

Do developments and innovations come more from the customer or more from Rosenbauer?

We work very closely with the customers. We are in constant exchange with each other and listen carefully. We pass this information on internally to the development and production department. This close exchange of information with our customers and the emergency response organizations is unique.

What are your Rosenbauer Moments that make you work hard every day?

When we hand over the vehicle and you see a sparkle in their eyes like a 5-year-old’s dream coming true on their birthday.

What makes your job at Rosenbauer so exciting?

I don't know any other company where you have to deal with so many technical and professional things in customer service: electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, digital solutions – everything works together. That makes the job really interesting for me.

You started out as a software engineer and are now a user experience designer – how would you describe your area of responsibility?

Since the end of last year, I have been focusing on things from the customer’s perspective, their working methods and how we can offer them the greatest added value with our products. This is relatively new for customers, because it is not sales talk with someone from the sales department, but rather it’s about working together to find and develop the best possible solution for their needs.

What are your Rosenbauer Moments that make you work hard every day?

There is no rigid departmental thinking and you can be happy when other departments are successful because you are part of something big. But above all, it is about those moments when we can support the emergency organizations in their daily work.

With the CFT, Rosenbauer has developed the fire fighting vehicle of the future. Your department was involved in this, right?

Our role was working on digital solutions in CFT. The vehicle is equipped with a call-out information management system that ensures all data relevant to the emergency personnel is available digitally and directly in the vehicle. This saves valuable time, which also helps to save lives.

How do you think innovation happens?

The appeal of it is always looking and staying that one step ahead. This also includes pursuing supposedly crazy ideas! Years ago, people looked at us sideways because we were thinking about the use of drones in fire and disaster control. Today you can see that we were right.

Especially in your department there is a certain start-up spirit. Do you feel that?

We deal with new technologies and constantly ask ourselves, what can we do for our customers? For example, we have equipped several vehicles at the customer's request so that the user is informed electronically whether the equipment in the vehicle is complete. Implementing this using RFID technology was uncharted territory for us, but within three months we had a solution.

You are jointly responsible for coordinating the supply chain. What does your job entail?

We map the entire production planning in a separate program. I am mainly responsible for designing the program and how processes run in it. It is important to listen carefully to everyone so that we can identify problems, develop solutions and improve processes.

Your job at Rosenbauer helps save lives. How often are you aware of this in your daily activities?

This aspect was actually very decisive when it came to applying here. Even if I'm directly involved in assembling a vehicle, I'm still helping to ensure that everything at Rosenbauer turns out like it should.

What defines Rosenbauer for you?

When the siren wails outside and you can hear our Rosenbauer firefighters running down the corridors almost in unison to immediately provide help and possibly save lives, that's a real goosebumps moment for me.

Rosenbauer has a nose for new ideas from the top downwards. How do these innovations come about?

New ideas are always welcome at Rosenbauer, and from everyone! Innovation happens constantly at our company, not only at product level, but also at organizational or process levels. The open corporate culture helps us to think about how we can improve every day. This is a decisive factor for success.

Women in technology are unfortunately still a minority. Do you think that's a shame?

There are a lot of women who are talented at math, computer science or mechanics, but you wouldn't necessarily expect them to be so talented at first. However, more and more women are entering technology and change has begun. It is a slow process, but it is also unstoppable. And that is a good thing.

What advice would you like to give to young women?

The most important thing is to have self-confidence and not to be intimidated so easily. You also have to know what you are capable of doing. But also what you are not so good at – you shouldn’t pretend anything. When you don't know, you can always ask.

Is there an error culture at Rosenbauer? Is failure allowed?

Absolutely! We all make mistakes. But if we stop making mistakes, we stop working. The important thing is that you correct the mistakes and stand by them.

Digitization is a hot topic. What does Supply Chain Management think about it?

We are currently working with a start-up on a system that deals with AI and machine learning. We feed the program with all possible data and information, which is then used as a basis for a neural network in the system. Artificial intelligence can recognize connections that we as humans no longer see. This is how we aim to obtain more accurate forecasts for planning in the future.