BUSINESS SLOBODAN JANKOVIĆ, DIRECTOR, INMOLD
They Turn Students
INTO GREAT WORKERS Požega company INMOLD exports its IML robots and sophisticated high-quality tools for injection moulding of plastics and non-ferrous metals to markets around the world. Now it has begun dual education at the technical school, which has paid off, both for the local community and the company
A
ll our staff are from an area of 25 km in radius, and the average age is under 32 ~ says Mr Janković, noting that all interested high school students who graduated from schools in Požega, Užice, Kosjerić, Lučani and Arilje have the chance to become part of INMOLD. In a short time, Inmold has grown from a company with 25 staff to one with more than 400. How do you explain that? There are several reasons for that, but I certainly have to mention the great experience from previous companies that I and some of my associates brought to Inmold, all my personal capital that I earned by selling part of the company of which I was a co-owner until 2006, a loan obtained from the Development Fund at the very beginning when I opened the company… The right choice of activities is also important, the huge need for tools and robots for IML technology for the production of thin-walled packaging for the food 32
and chemical industries around the world, the huge number of companies that have started operating in Serbia, Macedonia and BiH and the right moment to introduce dual education into the activities of INMOLD as the best way to provide young and professional staff adapted to the business. Probably my personal commitment and that of my associates to the business, to the work and the quality of work we do has also contributed to success, with the support of the current government for further development and growth of INMOLD, especially at our new site in Priboj, our expansion and providing the conditions for normal work, a stable family and private life, our commitment to employing people living in INMOLD’s vicinity and a whole range of other factors. Which markets do you cover? We are engaged in the production of IML robots and sophisticated high-quality tools for injection moulding of plastic and non-ferrous
EDUCATION / Challenges & Opportunities
metals, which we export to Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East, USA, Pakistan, Japan, China, Canada... For decades, our educational system has ignored the needs of the market, but that is slowly changing. Isn’t it high time that the education authorities start providing exactly what employers need? Yes, that’s right ... We somehow managed to influence the local community technical school to change its awareness of the needs of the labour market and to get young people out of school with occupations that are needed by business. Seven or eight years ago, the state launched a campaign to educate people needed by industry, and we are now actively working on that, which I am very pleased about. By the way, the tough school bureaucratic apparatus is hard to change, but it is getting better in Serbia because it is being worked on in many towns. The state has managed to change the legal regulations in education, so
