More than 5,000 visitors enjoy a day of discovery at Weber’s open house
Versatile, interactive, digital – Visitors dive into a world of high tech at Weber
Even before doors officially opened at 10am, many curious guests arrived at the gates of Weber’s Breidenbach campus to start their day of discovery. Many employees of Weber also used this opportunity to proudly show their fascinating workplace to their families and friends. As a special bonus and contrary to most such events, all visitors in addition to guided tours had a chance to roam about freely and individually. Whether they would then listen to introductions and presentations by Weber staff at 14 different points of interest from production to assembly or from the design studio to the large showroom, or whether they would prefer to discover it all on their own with the aid of information boards and screens – everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time. The Weber staff with great pride and passion was always ready to let their guests know many interesting details of their daily work, something that was welcomed especially by young visitors who may be ready to explore their own future careers in this company after school or college.
A major part of the presentations was fully interactive and hands-on, e.g. in the laser department where guests could take home their very own memorabilia in the form of stainless-steel bottle openers or the logos of their favorite soccer clubs. At a different location, the packaging machine on display on this day didn’t create its usual portioned packs for sausage and cheese but photo frames that the packaging engineers had designed especially for this occasion where visitors’ photos would be printed and then elegantly packaged for them. Further modern and digital assistants out of the fields of Augmented and Virtual Reality were shown off thanks to smart headsets and glasses that Weber is using in its work e.g. for simulations during development or for remote assistance and customer service and that visitors at the open house could also experience and enjoy for a 3-dimensional look inside single machines or even entire lines.
One of the highlights in this colorful all-day program was a presentation of Weber’s high-performance slicers doing what they do best: precise, clean and fast slicing in this case of 2,000 slices of salami per minute, live and right in front of the audience. Visitors could even get a taste of what they had just witnessed: thanks to a new robotics application, the salami slices were automatically placed on fresh toast for Weber’s guests to enjoy. This left a lasting impression and will certainly make for a nice déja-vu down the line when those in attendance will eat their next sandwiches at work, at school or on the road.
Complete organization by Weber staff
„More than 500 of our employees have contributed greatly with time and energy to make this a successful day and a wonderful presentation of what truly is their company. I would like to applaud and thank them for this marvelous effort, and I’m equally proud of the fact that we were able to welcome such a large number of guests from our region as well as quite a few of our customers and partners who all gave us lots of tremendous feedback on a job well done”, rejoices Tobias Weber, CEO of the Weber Group. Colleagues from many different departments of the company had worked hand-in-hand for many weeks to make this day possible, and they all made sure this was a truly remarkable and unforgettable event. It was all Weber staff also providing entertainment to children e.g. with a drawing contest, face-painting or an exciting Weber rallye across the Breidenbach campus. And even all catering in the areas of food and drink including a barbecue of sausages and steaks plus a stand with waffles and cake were provided by the team at Weber with 100% of all proceeds benefitting the local Hinterland School with its three branches in Breidenbach, Biedenkopf and Niedereisenhausen. Weber’s trainees had put up a soccer „goal wall“ for guests to try their luck. Proceeds from this activity also resulted in a sizeable donation to the Balthasar children’s and youth hospice in nearby Olpe.
