Job swap: When the CEO shows up with a wrench

It began with a simple question during an internal GEA livestream: Would the CEO be willing and able to spend a day doing real service work – working on actual production equipment, handling tools and deliver frontline service?

Stefan Klebert accepted the challenge. OeTTINGER GETRÄNKE in Bavaria, one of Germany’s best-known beverage producers and a longstanding GEA customer, became the proving ground. The timing was scheduled for Oettinger’s annual maintenance shutdown, a tight window in which every valve, gasket and gearbox must be inspected and approved before the brewery can resume production.

Across thousands of customer sites worldwide, GEA service technicians carry out this kind of work daily. It’s technical, demanding and essential. For anyone who wants to understand how manufacturing truly runs behind the scenes, there’s no better vantage point.

For Stefan Klebert, who began his career as a trained mechanical engineer and worked on the shop floor early in his professional life, the job swap was more than an experience. It was a chance to get close to the craftsmanship at the heart of what GEA delivers to its customers – and to show that leadership means understanding the realities of the work done across the organization.

What followed was a day in GEA service technician Gerhard Hofmann’s shoes spent checking and repairing manhole seals and gear units on brewing equipment. The first film captures the highlights of a CEO stepping into a different role and proving that the distance between a corner office and a brewery floor isn’t as wide as many might assume – at least at GEA.

In the second film, the roles are reversed. Gerhard trades his service jacket for a suit and spends a day at GEA’s headquarters, moving from high-level management meetings and studio interviews to casual chats in the cafeteria. The humorous change of scenery carries a serious message: frontline expertise is just as valuable in the boardroom as it is on the factory floor. GEA’s success depends on both technical expertise close to the customer and leadership that understands its value.