Apprentice of the Year

Industrial Technician – Apprentice of the Year
On 21 June 2008, the 22-year-old Klaus Bossow Sorensen from RIVAL was awarded a gold medal by the Danish Organisation of Trade and Industry at an awards ceremony at Radisson SAS Scandinavia Hotel in Aarhus. The medal is awarded every year to an apprentice that has excelled not only professionally but also personally. Klaus Bossow completed his training as an industrial technician specialising in machining last year, gaining the second highest grade possible in his apprenticeship test.

Klaus is an all-rounder and happy to work both with CNC projects and conventional tasks such as manual turning and milling.

Benny Sorensen’s family knows a thing or two about metal. Both sons are machinists like their father, and both sons have won medals to prove they’re among the best machinists in the country. Klaus’ brother Kim was awarded a silver medal by the Confederation of Danish Industry a few years ago.

“It must be quite hard for my mum. The conversation round the dinner table has focused on iron and metal. But she’s quite good at finding other things to talk about,” smiles Klaus when we meet him. It is two o'clock in the afternoon, and he has just got up since he’s working the night shift this week.

Have you always known you wanted to be a machinist?
“Yes, it kind of runs in the family. My father is a machinist and so is my brother. We’ve always messed about with mopeds, so it didn’t come as a surprise when I chose this industry. And it’s no bad thing to have worked on engines before you train as a machinist because it gives you a feel for how things should be.”

Home-built moped
Klaus’ far, Benny Sorensen, will be celebrating 25 years at RIVAL next year. He started as a machinist before being made foreman, and now works as account manager. “Klaus is keen to learn and has been building stuff ever since he was little. He once lost a piece of a finger because he was driving a home-built moped with a lawnmower engine. It had a V-belt system and looked awful, but it went quite fast. He took off for his last day at school in the rain, and the belt got wet and slipped. “Oh well, I’ll just grab a cloth and dry it off while I’m driving,” he thought. But it nipped him and took the top off his finger. Hopefully it taught him a lesson,” laughs Benny.

Klaus Bossow completed his training as an industrial technician specialising in machining last year, gaining the second highest grade possible in his apprenticeship test.

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