Factory tan: students taking summer jobs at Holzindustrie Schweighofer Baco

There are two ways to spend your summer, when you’re young.

For some, summer means long parties, music festivals, and trips to the seaside or to the mountains. For others, it’s down to the mill again, clocking in and out, day after day, laying down work experience like bricks in the foundation of a building. 

Students have been taking summer jobs for a few years now, in the largest blockboard factory in the world, operated by Holzindustrie Schweighofer in Comanesti.

Motivation is key

Andrei Rusu, a student of the Faculty of Wood Engineering at the “Transylvania” University of Brasov, is a local, with many ties to the factory: his brothers are working here, and their advice has been crucial when he chose his studies. Quiet and serious-minded, but with a charming smile, he has a very practical and hands-on approach to everything. He is frank about the financial benefits of working summer jobs, but at the same time he is eager to learn as much of the trade as possible. “I’m learning from the people. They know that the more you work, the more you achieve. They are very capable people,” he says.

The company and the Brasov University have a fruitful partnership. The Schweighofer Scholarships program for university students last year included six students from the Wood Engineering Faculty and six from the Forestry Faculty, and Holzindustrie Schweighofer supports scientific events and research, by endowing labs and commissioning studies of wood products and materials. Practical training for students is another learning outcome of the partnership, with growing prospects each year.

Get a feel for all the “nice boards”

Apart from Andrei, two more students in the same year chose to work throughout the summer vacation for Holzindustrie Schweighofer Baco.

Alexandra Dumitrescu and Mădălina Cucu will major in furniture design and interior design. They realized that the wood employed in their future work is a living matter, not easily bent to shape and transformed into the imagined model. “It’s important to work with the materials, not just draw them or use them in your designs, wondering if they have the right qualities for the job. This is how you really get the feel of it,” says Alexandra.

All summer long, the students passed through all the production sectors, seeing how the softwood lumber is sorted, split, cut, set into cores, pressed and covered with veneers and hi-tech films. They can trace the process all the way through to the “nice boards” that will go to constructors and furniture makers in more than 40 countries all over the world. “Really, getting a diploma doesn’t make one an engineer. That’s why we wanted to come here longer than the three weeks of practice mandated by the school,” she adds.

While the factory was a bit intimidating at first, the work safety measures in place throughout the production lines allowed them to feel at ease very soon. “All the machines are enclosed, I’ve never seen anything like it in the other factories I’ve visited. The technology is very modern, but equally impressive is the care for the workers’ safety,” says Alexandra. “At first I was so scared of the forklifts, but then I’ve learned they are moving on set paths so it’s quite easy to stay out of their way,” Madalina adds with a shy smile.

The experience proved inspirational. They knew blockboard as a fundamental engineered wood product, they studied it at the university, but seeing how it’s actually manufactured was an important lesson in its versatility, which allows them to articulate their designer vision in multiple ways. “I would make a beautiful dinner table, for the entire family, it is such a warm material,” says Madalina. “But the blockboard is also elegant and modern, perfect for long, straight lines, in an imposing hall, maybe even a cathedral,” counters Alexandra, and they both start laughing.

“Factory tan” for vocational education students

University students are not the only ones working summer jobs at Baco.

The vocational education students in the program run jointly with the “Grigore Cobalcescu”Technical College in neighboring Moinesti have the shortest vacation, compared to their high school colleagues. After courses ended in June, they started eight weeks of practical training which they spent in four of the Holzindustrie Schweighofer mills in Romania. Most were glad for a bit of rest, but six of them decided they didn’t get enough and requested to be employed until the classes start again in September. Assigned to the maintenance department, on reduced schedules – appropriate for 17-year-olds – they continued honing their skills.

They were here for the general revision in mid-August. For an entire week, they assisted the master electricians and mechanics who thoroughly checked all the machinery, throughout the production line. It was quite the opportunity, for students so young, to work on the state-of-the-art equipment. “Some of our colleagues went to the seaside, but we don’t envy them, they should be envying us. They couldn’t see what we’ve seen, it doesn’t compare to the devices we have in the school workshop. Even during practical training they wouldn’t stop the press line just for our benefit. It was something else,” says Denis Filip.

Taller but slouching a bit, finally at ease on the factory premises, with a kind of heaviness in their walk borrowed from their seasoned mentors and co-workers, they wear the slightly faded work coveralls with pride, their hands and forearms a bit grimy: this is “factory tan”, you don’t get it anywhere else, they laugh. But it’s alright, they’ve earned it.

In just a few weeks, they will return to the classroom, with plenty of stories. But for now they’re eager to finish the interview and return to work.

“There’s always time for vacations,” Andrei Rusu says, “now it’s time for us to learn.”