It’s no secret that Germany is a manufacturing mecca. Countries, companies, and people the world over turn to Deutschland for some of the most innovative engineering and precision machining found on the planet, which brings us to Benedikt Moeller. Benedikt is a manufacturing engineer and supervisor at Phoenix Mecano. He grew up and trained as a Process Mechanic for Plastic and Rubber Technology in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
“In Germany, there are two paths you can take out of high school,” says Benedikt. “You can do an apprenticeship, and learn actual manufacturing skills, or you can go straight on to university. I chose the apprenticeship path, which offers the added benefit of being able to go back to college. With the apprenticeship path, I would learn both technical and application methodologies while gaining work experience. I knew that with the apprenticeship path I had one shot to get it right, so I took advantage of that.”
After completing his apprenticeship, Benedikt pursued his Training-Instructor certification and earned his state-certified Engineering Technician with a minor in Process Engineering: all while working full-time as a Process Engineer. The German system is one of formal training paired with on-the-job training—a system that helps people gain skills without having to go straight to college after high school, and which helps them establish a career in any field.
Benedikt has been in the U.S. for about a year and a half. He started his job at Phoenix Mecano in June 2024. Benedikt is a military spouse, and he accompanied his wife to the Washington, D.C. metro area—specifically, Fairfax, Virginia—after completing a tour of duty in Germany. From there, Benedikt’s job search was straightforward: find a job in his field along Route 270 for an easy commute from Germantown, MD. Phoenix Mecano seemed the perfect fit, then, not just from a daily travel perspective but also from a professional perspective.
Benedikt: “I saw that Phoenix Mecano handled a lot of extrusions, plastic extrusions in particular, and that’s my background in manufacturing, so I felt very comfortable with that. But I also saw that some of the work I’d be doing is in aluminum extrusions. I hadn’t done that sort of work previously, but I thought, well, I’ll give it a try. And so here I am.”
Benedikt’s position at Phoenix Mecano is part office job, part production job. Again, it’s a perfect fit for his background, for the way his home country’s system educates and trains its young people. Phoenix Mecano, of course, is also known for bringing on apprentices and interns, to teach them the job of manufacturing the bespoke engineering solutions it’s known for, from the ground up. This process of being able to see a product through from conception to production has been a nice change of pace from Benedikt’s previous job.
“My job in Germany was high-volume manufacturing,” says Benedikt, “and I never saw the end product in its finished form. Here at Phoenix Mecano, it’s the complete opposite. I see jobs through from start to finish, and not just on the factory floor. Driving around Frederick I can see our electrical enclosures in use on telephone poles and traffic lights. To be able to see something I worked on out in the real world is very special.”
As for how he’s fitting in, not just at Phoenix Mecano but in real-world America, Benedikt also has something to feel good about: “In Germany, we had people from across the world working with us, and I was always the person helping newcomers adjust. Now I’m the newcomer, to my place of work and to the wider culture, and I’m finding it all very open and welcoming. Phoenix Mecano in particular is a very collaborative culture. It’s something I’m used to and like very much. I’m in a good place now any way you look at it.”
