Kuhle and Rüdel, who is running as a Bundestag candidate for the FDP, showed great interest in the latest developments for the aviation industry. “Our machines are used worldwide for the production of passenger aircraft. If you’re traveling by plane today anywhere in the world, parts of it were built with our technology,” says Carstensen. “Our employees are at work with full enthusiasm and this is also reflected in our high-tech solutions,” Carstensen continues.

Rüdel was enthusiastic about the automated systems for aircraft production, as he himself is a trained pilot. Finally, he gained an insight into the creation of his workplace and the technical know-how of a local, thus globally active company. Broetje-Automation employs many people from the region in Rastede. But of course, skilled workers are also hired throughout Germany and beyond. A challenge for many of them is that the employees sometimes cannot become residents of the municipality of Rastede due to the shortage of affordable housing. The points system installed for the allocation of building sites in the municipality of Rastede is mainly focused on young families and prefers applicants from the community, which means that applicants with adult children from other regions have challenges to find space for their homes. “Cycling to work – that’s the wishful thinking for many employees,” Carstensen says. He concludes that “there is a need for better regulation in the allocation of construction sites so that we can continue to travel worldwide from the region in Rastede in the future”.