Being an apprentice in your own family’s business

Hello! My name is Teo Tim Andolšek and I am the youngest son of our CEO Mojca Andolšek. I am currently doing an internship in our family business which was founded by my great-grandfather Jože in 1964. Today I will briefly describe what it is like to be an apprentice in your own family’s business.

I’m attendding the mechanical engineering high school in Novo mesto, where the compulsory internship of the mechatronics program lasts half a school year. The mechatronics program is perfect for me, as I believe it is the profession of the future. It is a new direction in which the knowledge of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and robotics converge.

At the beginning of my journey as an intern, they introduced me to work safety and set me up with personal protective equipment. This is, by the way, a condition for entering the production facilities.

At first, I’ve been given boring and dull tasks, such as cleaning, sweeping, emptying trash containers, sorting screws,… I wasn’t impressed with this work, but I also didn’t complain because I knew that this work had to be done by someone, and it was good practice for later. I got instructions from the builders and also learned a lot from them. Older staff are stricter than their younger counterparts and can sometimes be quick in pointing out your mistakes. However, you learn more from the older staff because they have more work and life experience. Many students are doing their mandatory internships in our company. Since I followed the rules and did my best, I progressed to more complex and demanding jobs like rubberizing, siliconing, mounting, screwing, drilling,…

Lately, I prepared the elevator belt for the final assembly of the elevator buckets. First, I got my hands on the technical documentation, which shows the plans of the elevator belt. All the details are drawn on the plans, including the holes for attaching the elevator buckets. This was followed by cutting the elevator belt to the right length. The length was of course evident from the plan. I then made holes in the belt using a punching tool and then attached the buckets with screws and nuts I had previously prepared. The elevator belt is 16 meters long. The task was demanding as technical knowledge was required to read the plans and I had to be precise as the holes had to be evenly distributed across the elevator belt. I also had to make sure that I used hand tools (punching tools, electric screwdriver, scissors) correctly and safely. So I prepared the elevator belt for further assembly.

I am happy to be assigned to different tasks because that is how I learn and gain experience.

Until next time,

Teo Tim

Installations in our home country are much easier and faster. But what is it like to install or put into commission our blasting equipment abroad? Apart from making many new friends and meeting beautiful girls, it can also be quite challenging. It requires the ability to adapt to the environment and people, knowledge of foreign languages, competence, technical know-how and, of course, great resourcefulness and ingenuity in all areas.

If we happen to meet somewhere around the world, make sure to say hi! Regards, Matic