compact annual meetings in siegen successful plastics and rubber industry foreman training sihk president and managing partner of silicone group gmbh and biw isolierstoffe gmbh ralf stoffels made a point to highlight the economic strength of the south westphalia region, particularly in the year of the bun- destag election and the nrw (north rhine-westphalia) parliamentary election. to this end, the chief executives and presidents of the three south westphalian cham- bers of industry and commerce of hagen, siegen and arnsberg agreed on a joint position to speak with one voice for south westphalia, the strongest economic region in nrw and the third largest in germany. about half of the employees who are entitled to provision of social insurance are employed in the manufacturing sec- tor and more than 150 world market leaders come from the south westphalia region, where goods are devel- oped, researched, designed and, above all, produced for the world market. solely the chamber district of hagen with the märkischer district and the ennepe-ruhr dis- trict comprises nearly 47,000 companies, the interests of which are collectively represented by the chamber president, stoffels, both within the region and also with respect to policy-making in düsseldorf and berlin. we congratulate our employees sascha gellert, evan- gelos tassis and dario pojavnik on the successful completion of advanced training to become plastics and rubber industry foremen. sascha gellert – in the company since 2007. team leader, glass silk since june 2016. trained car mechanic. he started working for biw as a production assistant. after seven years of professional experience, he fulfilled the prerequisite for a qualification as a plastics and rub- ber industry foreman. he passed his examination after more than two and a half years of advanced training. evangelos tassis – in the company since 2008. he successfully completed his three-year apprenticeship as a process mechanic for plastics and rubber technology in 2011. after 2014 he trained for plastics and rubber indus- try foreman for two and a half years. since june 2017 he has been working as team leader, silicone. dario pojavnik, sascha gellert, evangelos tassis dario pojavnik – in the company since 2006. team leader, silicone since june 2016. also started his two and a half-year continuing education in 2014 as a plastics and rubber industry foreman and has now successfully completed it. — anja langner — ralf stoffels biw welcomes nine new trainees the traditional annual meeting of the south westphalian ihk presidents and chief executives took place in may in siegen. the mayor of the city of siegen, steffen mues, availed himself of the opportunity to personally present the project "siegen zu neuen on 1st august 2017, nine new trainees started on their future career path – four apprentices as process mecha- nics for plastic and rubber technology, one apprentice as machine and plant manager and two industrial mechanic apprentices under the direction of their training manager thomas perian and two industrial buyer apprentices under the direction of their training manager daniela lombardi. we would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new trainees and wish them great success! — anja langner ufern" (siegen to new shores) to the guests on site. (from left to from left to right: training manager for professional trades thomas perian, training manager for industrial buyers, daniela lombardi, nico right: dr. ralf geruschkat, chief executive officer sihk in hagen, weber, michael ileoyinje, housein otouzmpir, jean-marie biereke, commercial managing director lutz stoffels, personnel officer sonja klaus gräbener, chief executive officer ihk siegen, sihk president schwikardi, hamza büyükaltay, mohamed al harouat, kneeling at front waldemar filimonov, arshadullah wadeer; kevin roo is missing ralf stoffels, ralf kersting, president ihk arnsberg, steffen mues, from the photo. dr. ilona lange, president of ihk arnsberg, felix g. hensel, president ihk siegen) thank you to our anniversary fakuma halle a3 | stand a3-3304 international trade fair for plastics processing friedrichshafen, 17th– 21st october www.fakuma-messe.de/en 20 years biw sinasi irmak, 20th may 1997 claudia horn, 1st june 1997 lars windhövel, 1st august 1997 daniela lombardi, 1st august 1997 ramos ramon, 1st august 1997 20 25 25 years biw ingo matecki, 7th september 1992 dirk huwald, 1st september 1992 imprint responsible persons: ralf stoffels, dr. markus wiethoff, lutz stoffels editorial staff: ralf stoffels, dr. daniel siebler, lutz stoffels, anja langner, sven braatz layout and typesetting: lessingtiede.de contact biw isolierstoffe gmbh pregelstraße 5, d-58256 ennepetal tel.: +49 (23 33) 83 08-0 fax: +49 (23 33) 83 08-10 all rights reserved. no section of this document may be reproduced without prior written authorisation, saved to a data system or transmitted in any form whether electronic or mechanical by means of photocopying, recording or any other method. 04