German Craft Skills Championship: 7th Place for Leon Reitz

From state champion to the national final, and a place among Germany’s top ten: Leon Reitz, trained in our own training workshop, finished 7th at the German Championship for the Metal Trades in Northeim. A strong result in an extremely close competition.

The German Craft Skills championship (Deutsche Meisterschaft im Handwerk) is Europe’s largest vocational skills competition. Every year, more than 3,000 young skilled workers from over 130 trades take part. Reaching the national final means working your way up through several rounds. Leon Reitz did exactly that: as state champion, he represented us at the national final in Northeim from 5 to 7 November 2026. In the end, he achieved an excellent 7th place nationwide.

Competition day in Northeim

The day started at 8 a.m. After a welcome in the workshop, the participants split up into their trades. Northeim brought together not only metalworkers, but also metal casters, metal designers and other metal trades.

The competition consisted of four disciplines:

• Welding using different welding processes
• Bending
• Folding
• Bench work: machining aluminium sheet with various cut-outs and slotted holes

Rather than judging a single workpiece, each discipline was assessed separately. That makes the competition demanding, because you have to perform well in every discipline at once. The results were extremely close, which makes us all the more pleased with Leon’s 7th place.

Competition with team spirit

Despite the competition, the atmosphere among the participants was outstanding. Everyone supported each other and shared the experience of the days in Northeim. At lunchtime, they met at the food truck, and in the evening there was a bowling tournament together.

On Saturday, the award ceremony took place in Northeim’s Stadthalle. Leon received his certificate and a desk lamp as a gift.

Training in our own workshop

Our modern training workshop offers everything you need to learn as a metalworker: from welding, bending and folding to sheet metal work. Our trainers give our apprentices comprehensive training and support them step by step until every technique is second nature. Training the skilled workers of tomorrow ourselves matters a great deal to us.

We are proud of Leon and would like to thank everyone who supported him along the way: our trainers, our colleagues in the specialist departments and, of course, Bundesverband Metall (the German Federal Association of Metal Trades), which organises the competition.

Congratulations on this great result, Leon!

Ready to make something big?

At LEFFER in Saarbrücken-Dudweiler, we offer apprenticeships in six trades, from metalworker and construction mechanic to precision machinist and industrial business management assistant, as well as two dual study programmes. Training starts in August 2027. Find out more and apply on our careers page: https://leffer.de/karriere/