On Friday, 1 September 2006, 15 new trainees start their careers at J. Schmalz GmbH. They were greeted heartily by the managing directors Dr. Kurt Schmalz and Wolfgang Schmalz and by personnel manager Martin Helbling.

Training at J. Schmalz GmbH starts, each year, with a three-week introductory course held by Rudolf Mönch, training manager at Schmalz. Here, the new apprentices, divided into two groups, are set the task of developing and manufacturing an advertising gift in the form of a CD clock. The objective of this course is to permit the new apprentices to get to know each other and to give them a taste of the processes which runs at Schmalz.

A new apprenticeship this year is the "specialist for stock-room logistics". Persons in this trade record the movement of stock with the aid of the company's information and communication systems. This includes receiving and storing the goods, commissioning and packing and the shipment of the goods to their intended destinations. Further tasks include the receipt, internal transfer and issuing of stock, taking into account the turnover rate, the condition of the goods and the distances which have to be travelled. While the practical part of the training is carried out at J. Schmalz GmbH, the theoretical part of the course is held at a trade school in Nagold.

Today, J. Schmalz GmbH offers 14 different apprenticeships and sandwich courses. Schmalz thus has an exemplary trainee quota of 13% with, at the moment, a total of 36 apprentices and sandwich-course students. Schmalz is committed to the principle of training and has the highest trainee quota of all companies in the region which offer training.