Multivac's Hans Joachim Boekstegers Award, a prize for apprentices, trainees and students, honors the commitment of those in its next generation of young talent, who accomplish extraordinary achievements in their commercial and technical fields or in their study thesis.

The ceremony for this year's HJB Award took place as part of a celebratory dinner at the company headquarters in Wolfertschwenden, Germany.

Since 2020, Multivac has honored young professionals with the HJB award. 

“The training of the next generation of young talent has always had a high priority at MULTIVAC,” said Tobias Richter, CSO at Multivac. “Our previous Group President, Hans Joachim Boekstegers, recognized at an early stage the importance of promoting the next generation, and he was actively involved in this work. Today this topic is more important than ever for MULTIVAC in these times of skilled staff shortages.”

The recipients of the prestigious awards are:

Best Future Professional

Jan Löther (Fritsch) was overjoyed to win first place and € 1,200 in prize money in the category of Best Future Professional. He completed his training as technical product designer in spring 2022, and he impressed the jury with his outstanding commitment in his vocational studies at college, for which he also received recognition from the regional government of Lower Franconia. Löther's dedication within the company was also outstanding.

This year there were several winners with the same number of points in the category for apprentices. Therefore, three winners came in second place: Hanna Moritz (Multivac Wolfertschwenden) and Lena Bichler (Multivac Lechaschau) shone in their training with outstanding commitment and magnificent achievement. In addition to these two, Dennis Garbe and Sem Jörg (both Multivac Wolfertschwenden) received a prize for their joint project.

Best International Graduation Work

Among the students who wrote their thesis at MULTIVAC between September 2021 and August 2022, the jury chose Matthias Reisle (MULTIVAC Wolfertschwenden). As part of his studies with in-depth practical work, Reisle completed his master's degree in Automation Technology & Robotics, and he did his thesis on "Analysis and optimisation of axis loads on delta kinematic robots." Since 2021 Reisle has been working as a software developer in the Business Unit of Food, Medical & Consumer Solutions. The award was € 1,200.

The second and third places were also awarded a prize this year. Simon Papenberg (Multivac Wolfertschwenden) won second place with his thesis on "Concept and prototype for operator assistance: Task management with Multivac Line Control." Today he holds the role of product owner in the department of Digital Products & Transformation. Third place went to Pascal Schilling (Multivac Wolfertschwenden), who is currently a developer in the Basic Research Team. In his Master's thesis he undertook the development of a digital twin for the combination of slicer and thermoforming packaging machine. Both winners enjoyed prize money.

“The training opportunities and professional prospects within the Multivac Group are very diverse. Our apprentices and trainees can lay the basis for a creative and innovative future, enabling them to secure their professional prospects for the long term. We are delighted to be able to honour the next generation of committed and outstanding talent with the HJB Award, and we offer our heartfelt congratulations to all the prize winners,” said Bernd Höpner, CTO at Multivac.