Wirtschaftsforum: At a time when other energy-intensive companies threaten to relocate and warn of the deindustrialization of Germany – how do you manage to succeed anyway?

Rüdiger Schaaf: If you do not simply follow behind the Federal Minister of Economy, but think for yourself, you also come to economically viable possibilities. Of course, we too have to struggle with the hurdles set up by the current federal government – they are, from my point of view, an absolute disaster. But I will not succeed in dismissing Chancellor Scholz, even though I would like to. We have chosen a different path and produce our own energy: We have photovoltaic systems on our roofs and our fleet has already been switched to electric cars. However, this requires investing money – not just for the vehicles and solar modules, but also for the transformers and ensuring a structured energy supply for the machines: Now, we operate our plants as well as our vehicles with our self-generated electricity, and when the operation is closed on weekends, we feed the energy into the grid and receive grid fees in return. Despite all supply crises, this allows me not to worry about how to power my company in the coming years.

Wirtschaftsforum: What stops others from doing the same as you?

Rüdiger Schaaf: None of this is explained by politics. To the car dealer from whom we obtained our electric vehicles, I said: "Your biggest disaster is that you can't convey to people why driving an electric car is economical!" I've experienced this in my own company, as some employees did not want this and resisted the change. I then once calculated a sober comparison for them – that instead of 1% flat tax on their current company car, they would only have to pay 0.25% tax and thus have more money in their wallet at the end of the month. Furthermore, this step is also associated with significant economic advantages for our company because the vehicle tax is completely eliminated and due to the low maintenance requirements of electric vehicles, operating costs are much lower, which in turn opens up new possibilities for further wage increases. If the automotive industry and politics could communicate these manifold advantages similarly stringently, many reservations would quickly dissipate – but unfortunately, they apparently cannot manage that.

Wirtschaftsforum: Then there is the general skilled labor shortage that the local industry and sometimes politics often complain about.

Rüdiger Schaaf: Too many cliches are being tossed around there too. We don't have a skilled labor shortage, but a lack of qualified search for skilled workers. This is certainly also due to negative changes in vocational training: Before I completed two degree programs in my life, I had undergone training as a Technical Draftsman – a training profession that no longer exists today. Instead, there is now the so-called Product Designer with 28 different training classes, but without a relevant direction for steel construction. Therefore, we have to further qualify corresponding graduates ourselves, which is of course associated with more effort for the companies and requires corresponding commitment. The same applies to skilled labor immigration, which incidentally should not be equated with immigration through refugees – because these are two completely different phenomena! But you cannot get qualified new employees from abroad if you sit in your office twiddling your thumbs and whining. You have to get off your butt and travel to the respective countries. That's exactly what we did – and this year we will be able to welcome the first new colleagues from Vietnam and the Philippines.