From 2 to 4 November GROHE hosted the WorldSkills 2022 Special Edition at our production site and training centre in Lahr, Germany. WorldSkills is an international competition that brings together young people from all over the world to show off their vocational skills in various technical disciplines, and to compete against one another for the title of the best in their field. At Lahr this year we held the Plumbing and Heating competition, in which twenty young competitors took part.

GROHE has been a WorldSkills Global Industry Partner since April 2022. The WorldSkills philosophy of promoting inclusivity and diversity and using skills training to support our industry by training the next generation of skilled technicians, are core values for our brand. For several years our GIVE (GROHE Installer Vocational Training and Education) Program has supported plumbing schools all over the world with equipment and expertise, certifying qualifications and introducing young people to our industry. Timo Kurz has the joint roles of Leader of both the GIVE Program and the WorldSkills partnership. He called the Lahr event a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for our participants and pointed out that the training racks set up for WorldSkills will be used for our own training events in future.

Over the three days of the Special Edition around 1,000 people visited in total, among them GROHE clients and partners, trainers from our GIVE Program, and industry luminaries. Besides the competition itself, there were panel talks, awards ceremonies and a chance to see the GROHE X Motion and GIVE Truck in action. Check out our video summary to get a flavor of the event and to see the buzz that WorldSkills creates as it nurtures our industry´s future.

This fascinating panel talk brings together key players in the sanitary industry, including our own Jonas Brennwald, to look at ways to fill the skills gap that risk blocking growth and wasting potential. As an older generation of skilled plumbers retires, we need to make the profession more attractive to young people. As the distinguished panel points out, this means promoting the genuine environmental sustainability that new products offer and restoring pride in working in an industry that can and should be an agent of positive change. It also means pushing diversity and inclusivity, especially with a view to bringing young women into the profession and making them feel valued and welcome. Join host Anna Kreuzberg for a thought-provoking discussion with great insights from industry decision-makers.