For Emanuel Wegis and his family, job rota­tion was a true profes­sional and personal journey. He swapped his desk in Solu­tion Engi­neering in Laupheim for an office in Singa­pore for six months, where he led a project to develop a new after-sales process tailored specif­i­cally to the Singa­pore site. This exciting new role required him to shift his perspec­tive: When was it time to contribute content, and when was it more impor­tant to facil­i­tate the process? Working with an inter­na­tional team in a multi­cul­tural metrop­olis was a real eye-opener.

After working in Spain and the United States, I wanted to expe­ri­ence the Eastern world. Singa­pore was the perfect place: it offered exciting tasks, cultural diver­sity, and a safe envi­ron­ment for my family.

Life outside of work was equally eventful. Just five weeks before they were set to arrive, Emanuel, his wife, Ivon, and their two sons, Elias and Niklas, were informed that they had finally found an apart­ment in Singa­pore. Emanuel’s work permit arrived only two weeks before they left. Plus, home­schooling was uncharted terri­tory for the kids. However, with support from Laupheim and Singa­pore, their initial uncer­tainty quickly turned into genuine excite­ment.

I’d do it again in a heart­beat. It’s a chance to see the world with new eyes. As Ray Brad­bury said: See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream.

Unfor­get­table moments included landing front-row seats at the Formula 1 race spon­ta­neously when a spec­tator kindly let the kids stand at the fence for the best view (“Kids come first!”). The family also trav­eled to Koh Samui and Bali. One partic­u­larly memo­rable moment occurred when a player collapsed during a soccer match. Emanuel imme­di­ately began resus­ci­ta­tion efforts, and thank­fully, the player recov­ered. Despite all these expe­ri­ences, there was still a mostly normal workday filled with new projects and inter­cul­tural learning.

Going abroad isn’t always neces­sary to gain new insights. There are plenty of oppor­tu­ni­ties right here in Laupheim. Andrea Hafner had this thought when she tran­si­tioned from order manage­ment to sales for three months as part of the job rota­tion program. Her goals were clear: to deepen her under­standing of the market, build stronger networks, and gain better insights into sales plan­ning.

The job rota­tion was a great way for me to broaden my hori­zons within the company, gain a better under­standing of the other depart­ment, and build valu­able connec­tions.

Andrea wanted to under­stand how our customers think and how we can collab­o­rate more effec­tively inter­nally. The job rota­tion exactly did that: she gained a better handle on Euro­pean markets and cultures, customer prior­i­ties, and the needs of the sales team, such as fast tech­nical support, and helped strengthen cross-depart­mental collab­o­ra­tion.

Having the chance to explore other depart­ments is incred­ibly helpful for under­standing the company better and working together across teams on shared solu­tions.

Andrea ulti­mately got to travel abroad, with her personal high­light being the visit to Uhlmann Nordiska in Gothen­burg. There, she gained valu­able insights into the Scan­di­na­vian market and was impressed by the warmth of her Swedish colleagues.

Carina Kiefer also took the oppor­tu­nity to explore a new depart­ment through Perspectives4U, moving from Quality Manage­ment into Uhlmann’s digital infra­struc­ture. She joined the IT Collab­o­ra­tion team, where she worked exten­sively with Atlassian tools like Conflu­ence and Jira. Her goal was to enhance her tech­nical skills and strengthen her under­standing of digital processes.

It was fasci­nating to see how tech­nical solu­tions can tangibly improve our daily work.

The Collab­o­ra­tion Team acts as a bridge between IT and other depart­ments, a valu­able perspec­tive for Carina as she contributed to the company’s digital trans­for­ma­tion. With the help of a mentor and strong team support, she quickly became familiar with her role. One of her personal high­lights was attending an Atlassian Commu­nity Event in Dorn­birn, Austria, where she enjoyed networking and exchanging ideas with other users, gaining insights into new devel­op­ments.

I highly recom­mend taking advan­tage of oppor­tu­ni­ties like this. Thinking outside the box is always worth it.

Our fourth story is about Tim Werner. Like Emanuel, Tim worked in Solu­tion Engi­neering and trav­eled to Asia, choosing China as his desti­na­tion. He was drawn to the country’s fasci­nating culture and its status as the world’s second-largest economy. He also wanted the chance to work directly with our customers on-site. Tim wanted to under­stand the market, support inter­na­tional projects, and gain new perspec­tives on processes and prod­ucts.

I wanted to see how our machines perform in everyday life in China and how our colleagues work on site.

Things weren’t always smooth for Tim, though. Obtaining a visa required patience, espe­cially when his pass­port went missing temporarily. Language barriers were also chal­lenging. However, neces­sity begets creativity, and with persis­tence and trans­la­tion apps, every­thing worked out just fine.

My time in China helped me grow both profes­sion­ally and person­ally. It was a chance to broaden my perspec­tive and gain a deeper under­standing of our inter­na­tional collab­o­ra­tion.

His time in China certainly left a lasting impres­sion. High­lights included a movie screening without the promised English subti­tles, being asked for selfies like a celebrity, a lengthy hotel check-in process involving multiple photos, and nearly missing his train, only to then enter his pass­port number correctly and make it through secu­rity in time. Would he do it all again, even though it was some­times chaotic? Absolutely.