Small Q&A
During our visit at OHB we had some time to ask a few questions about the company and educational things. Martin Stade (OHB Corporate Communications) was so kind to answer them.
Answer 1:
At OHB Bremen, the people that worked there mainly came from university backgrounds and there was a small amount of workers of craftsmanship. This differs from other OHB sites where the large majority of workers are craftsmen. Howeve, Martin Stade came from a military background, so it is clear that workers can gain employment here from different paths.
Question 1:
What education/workplace backgrounds do most employees come from?
Question 2:
How important is the European Union to the company?
Answer 2:
The European Union is new in space and became important to the company when the Galileo project changed direction from a private to national navigation. This is because the EU took control as they wished to have a rival navigation system that would be able to rival the GPS, mainly they work with the ESA.
Question 3:
How many projects is the company working on at this time?
Answer 3:
There are 7 or 8 key projects currently at OHB, however there are many other projects in phase 0/A which means that they are only in the early stages of creation so they cannot be classed as serious projects yet. If we were to include these there could be up to 30 or 40 projects running in the company at this time.
Question 4:
What makes OHB different from their competitors?
Answer 4:
OHB is a small family run company and this means that there is less of a hierarchy in comparison to larger companies like Talis and EADS. This gives them an advantage as they can make decisions quicker and are able to change direction of projects more easily.
Question 5:
What does the company wish to accomplish in the near future and the end goal?
Answer 5:
The overall aim of the company is to grow and to do this they need to find both permenat projects and short term projects that will help to improve their portfolio and to keep them expanding.