For 20 years now, AEM member company Graepel North America has shown that workforce development can be a growth driver in manufacturing. What began in 2006 as a one-person sales office in Omaha has grown into a 7,500-square-meter production facility with 65 employees, serving customers in agricultural machinery, construction equipment, and commercial vehicles.
The company’s growth in Nebraska has been built on local production, short lead times, and a training model designed to create the skilled labor it needs to keep expanding.
At the center of that development is Mark Zumdohme, the “one man” from the start, and now-CEO of Graepel North America. His view is straightforward. “You need good people. The rest you can buy.” That sentence captures the logic behind Graepel’s approach to hiring, training, and long-term capacity building in the U.S.
ICATT: A German Apprenticeship Model in Nebraska
For a manufacturing company, the challenge in the U.S. is familiar. The education system does not automatically produce the kind of shop-floor talent that a production operation needs. After high school, the path usually leads either directly into work or into a four-year college degree. For Graepel, that was not enough. The company needed employees who could run machines, understand production processes, and contribute to quality and efficiency from the start.
Graepel responded by introducing the ICATT program (Industry Consortium for Advanced Technical Training) in Omaha in 2019. It is a dual apprenticeship model developed by the German American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. Graepel was the first in Nebraska to implement the program. ICATT combines work in the company with college coursework over three years. Apprentices spend two to three days per week on the job and the rest of the week in class. Graepel covers college tuition and fees, pays wages during work hours, and provides a stipend during the college portion. Graepel always hires apprentices in pairs, a choice the company says improves persistence through the program because the students support each other throughout the three years.
For any manufacturer facing labor shortages, long ramp-up times, or inconsistent skill levels in new hires, the ICATT model offers a concrete route from entry-level recruitment to shop-ready technicians. Building that route takes deliberate effort. Graepel starts every apprenticeship with a three-month “temp to hire” trial period, giving both sides the chance to see whether the work in production is the right fit. In some cases, that turned out not to be so. Rather than lowering the bar, the company raised its investment. In 2023, Graepel hired a full-time Corporate Trainer to work exclusively with the apprentices.
“You need good people. The rest you can buy.” -- Mark Zumdohme
The Foundation: Training in Germany Since 1948
Graepel's U.S. program draws on a long training tradition at the company's headquarters in Löningen, Germany. The company has trained apprentices there since 1948, today across eight technical and commercial apprenticeship occupations, including industrial mechanics, tool and die makers, and industrial clerks, as well as two dual-degree programs. Across its German sites, 46 apprentices are currently in training.
One program stands out, the Ausbildung.Plus. It combines a compressed two-and-a-half-year commercial apprenticeship with an additional one-and-a-half years of advanced qualification as a certified business administrator, at Bachelor's degree level. The curriculum includes practical modules, a minimum three-week international placement, and a trainer qualification exam. Since its introduction, 19 people have completed the program.
Zumdohme himself went through Graepel's German training system before moving to the U.S. in 2006. He has now worked for the company for nearly 30 years. That path, from apprentice in Löningen to CEO in Omaha, is the clearest illustration of what the company's approach to training is designed to produce.
‘Good People’ in Focus Worldwide
Graepel’s training and development activities are part of a wider international approach and not limited to Nebraska. In India, the company has cooperated with the Indo-Swiss Training Centre (ISTC) in Chandigarh since 2024, a state-recognized technical institution founded in 1963. Graepel placed its first ISTC graduate in a quality function in 2024 and took on two more in 2025. In Hungary, Graepel received the “Reliable Employer 2026/28” designation from the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce, awarded on the basis of a structured criteria catalogue covering compensation, benefits, working conditions, and professional development.
Across three continents, Graepel treats workforce development as investment. Mark Zumdohme, asked what he is most proud of after twenty years in Omaha, comes back to the same point. “Sixty-five employees who can rely on us and on whom we can rely. Good jobs and good wages. That creates prosperity, not just for the company but for people. And the ICATT program, that is a German export that not many people notice. But it works.”
One of the ‘Good People’
Ramiro found Graepel while searching online for a manufacturing job. A major staffing agency pointed him to the company, and he applied as a material handler. During the conversation with HR, the trainer was called in to explain the ICATT apprenticeship. Ramiro agreed on the spot. “I didn't expect to get this kind of opportunity so quickly.”
He arrived with two welding classes from school and no experience in manufacturing, driven by the wish to make things and to turn raw material into something people can actually use. The hardest part came right at the beginning. The apprentices form their first workpieces entirely by hand, with saw, file and chisel. They learn what happens with the material and how to solve a task when proper equipment is out of reach. “Sometimes you got to think outside the box and use the skills they show you.”
Today Ramiro is in his third year. From Monday to Thursday, he works as a floater across the sections of the factory, supported by leads who know their machines inside out. Friday is ICATT time for machining, pneumatics and hydraulics. Looking back, he is surprised how much of the demanding theory he retains. His favorite area is preventive maintenance, understanding why a machine runs and keeping it that way.
His advice for anyone considering this path is straightforward. “Make sure you actually try. You have got to give 100% or you don't do it at all. Otherwise, it's going to make work feel like work.”
