In 43 competition disciplines, 450 participants from 31 nations will come together to compete with the best young talents in the respective "Skills". The German national team will be equipped with industry-specific workwear by CWS Workwear. Each participant will receive clothing for training and competitions as well as leisure and business clothing for public appearances. Jannis Borchert (21) and Lars Keller (23) will compete for Germany as hopefuls in the Mechatronics skill. Julia Köhl, Project Manager at CWS, met them for an interview during the training.

Your mechatronics discipline is a skill in which two participants compete together. Do you have a division of roles in the team?

Jannis: My job is to set up a miniature production system consisting of various modules, such as conveyor belts and magazines. There are certain rules to follow, which are described in the "Professional Practice". In the competition, I get a picture of the system and have to build it, but without any assembly plans.

Lars: There is also a production description of how everything has to work. I then program the system with the computer.

Do you complement each other in character or are you similar?

Jannis: We are very different, but we can rely on each other blindly. We win and lose together. We don't have a scapegoat if we make a mistake. We decide everything together and bear the consequences together. I tend to be the one who plans and thinks everything through in advance.

Lars: I tend to get started and adapt work steps and errors during the ongoing process. That lends itself to programming. Overall, we complement each other very well and both work very precisely, which is particularly important for our skill.

How are you preparing for the competition?

Jannis: We meet once or twice a week at my home for at least four hours or sometimes every weekday.

Lars: We have a training plan that includes, for example, friendly competitions against the teams from Switzerland, Belgium and Japan before EuroSkills.

Do you know what special protective measures have been taken for the competition?

Both: There is a dynamic hygiene concept for the competition, which is always adapted to the current situation. As things stand at the moment, a limited number of spectators are planned. As a national team, however, we will be rather isolated with the entire team, i.e. all competitors, coaches and the rest of the delegation.

How did you qualify for EuroSkills? Separately or together?

Lars: We know each other from our apprenticeships and worked at the same company, Sick. We were both interested in taking part in EuroSkills. We then qualified together as a team at the German championships at the didacta 2019 education fair against seven other teams.

What does your employer say about your participation?

Lars: He's happy for us and also advertises it.

Do you know how many participants you will be competing against?

Jannis: There are currently 10 teams registered.

Do you know your task?

Jannis: All teams receive a possible set-up six months before the competition, which includes all the modules for the first day of the competition. We can therefore focus on the modules and try out possible scenarios. However, we only find out what the final task will look like on the day of the competition.

How do you rate your chances?

Lars: We have strong opponents. But we're concentrating entirely on ourselves. We are both mentally very strong and will also include mental training in our preparation. We will be supported in this by the national team's mental coaches.

What are you most looking forward to?

Lars: We're just happy to be there and to be competing for Germany.

Jannis: It really is a great honor to represent your country. It's also important for us to have fun at the competition.

What sets you apart?

Both: We are both very ambitious and motivate each other. That's the big advantage in the mechatronics skill.

What do you like about your job?

We chose mechatronics as a career because of the variety and diversity. The profession is very sustainable, as there are more and more jobs in which mechatronics is in demand, as mechanical and electronic components interact.

What plans do you have for after the competition?

Jannis: We both want to develop professionally and learn more. I'm starting a dual study program in mechatronics in October.

Lars: I'm doing further training as a state-certified technician, specializing in data communication.