Nina Warken - member of the German Bundestag - visited BASS

„Especially in our rural area it is becoming increasingly clear that SMEs are still the backbone of our economy“, said Nina Warken when she visited BASS in Niederstetten. The member of the Bundestag who comes from the town Tauberbischofsheim was accompanied by the mayor of Niederstetten, Rüdiger Zibold, by the CDU party members of the town council Wolfgang Dornberger, Alexander Böltz, Roland Landwehr as well as by the Chairman of the CDU town association Sebastian von der Weide.
In the presence of the managing director, Martin Zeller, company owner Dr. Stefanie Leenen presented the company to the guests. In 1947, her grandfather founded the company that has specialized in the production of tools for cutting internal threads from the early beginning. With its high precision tools that are produced today, BASS is active all over the world. The threading tools coming from Niederstetten are used for the manufacture of many different products, e.g. in the production process of all well-known car manufacturers but also in many spectacle hinges for instance. At the company headquarters in Niederstetten, 145 staff members are currently employed.
BASS places great value on continuous training and education of the employees, on family friendliness and flexibility and thus on a good working atmosphere. In 2012, BASS won the future prize of the Main-Tauber-Kreis and was awarded for being a “family-friendly” company. In 2014, the company was honored with another award. This time, BASS won the second place in the competition whose motto was “culture of welcoming”. BASS is also a pioneer with regard to the quality and certification of apprenticeship and was among the first companies within this region that was awarded with the certification “DUALIS – a certified apprenticing company” by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.
“If we want to attract young and motivated personnel for our company we need to have good access to vocational training schools and universities. The Corporate State University Mosbach (DHBW) is an important partner for us”, said Dr. Leenen. Warken added the idea of a long-term joint teaching for similar apprenticeships: “The demographic change and the increasing differentiation of the apprenticeships are the reason why single classes are not equally occupied in rural areas these days. We should therefore think about if similar professions can be taught together in general subjects like maths or German, so that vocational trainees do not have to drive long distances except for taking courses in their specific subjects,” said the member of the Bundestag.
Another intensive debate was the issue of asylum and the associated opportunities for the domestic industry. There was a consensus that qualifications of asylum seekers need to be assessed in a more systematic way to match them with interested companies quickly. Warken asked to appreciate that the region “had to rearrange things” first given the flood of refugees. The member of the Bundestag also stressed, however, that she was very confident regarding further steps concerning the integration of asylum seekers.
Finally, Dr. Leenen asked Warken for support regarding a fast internet connection. “Without a fast DSL connection we do not only have higher costs and higher logistic effort but also a serious competitive disadvantage compared to our international competitors. Something must be done about this.”
At the end of the tour, Nina Warken thanked Dr. Stefanie Leenen for the interesting insight into the company and she promised that she would devote particular attention to the request for a fast internet connection. At the beginning of April, on the initiative of Nina Warken, experts of the broadband office of the German federation (BBB) are going to meet in Tauberbischofsheim to advice people in charge of municipal structures with regard to potential promotion possibilities.