bjbjLULU JUDY WOODRUFF: And to Europe's debt
crisis. Negotiations are going down to the wire on
yet another bailout for Greece, one that would require German help. From Germany, Margaret Warner reports on some
of the people who help make it Europe's richest country. MARGARET WARNER: The Restaurant Dionysos was
packed on a recent night, heaping plates of Greek fare flying from kitchen to table. But at this eatery named for the God of wine,
the drink of choice is German beer. The Greek-born owner spent years building
this showcase of his homeland's cuisine for Frankfurt diners. But now the economic crisis in Greece and
demands that Germany act as financial backstop to Europe has him wishing his old home behaved
a little bit more like his new one. CHRISTOS KEZETZIDIS, owner, Dionysos (through
translator): In Greece, it's a totally different world. I came here to work. In Germany, there's just more order and they
do more work. MARGARET WARNER: That work ethic is forged
at places like the Herrenknecht factory in Germany's booming Black Forest region. Owner and founder Martin Herrenknecht grew
up in a tiny village here, the son of an upholsterer. MARTIN HERRENKNECHT, chairman, Herrenknecht,
A.G.: My dream was always to have more people employed than my father. My father had 12 people. MARGARET WARNER: More than 4,000 people work
for him, from young apprentices learning to shape metal to master craftsmen constructing
the subterranean ground-eaters built here, tunnel-boring machines that can cost tens
of millions of dollars. The secret to Germany's success lies in small-to-medium-sized
family firms like this one that manufacture some highly specialized and indispensable
piece of equipment. The Germans like to say, we make the thing
that goes inside the thing that goes inside the thing. In Herrenknecht's case, it's a very big thing. Some weigh thousands of tons. Projects from the Beijing subway to New York's
Second Avenue line to a train bed under the Alps all exploit Herrenknecht's indispensable
feature cutting head that can readjust to any material on the spot. The founder credits much of his success to
the centuries-old mechanical aptitude and ingenuity of the workers of his region. MARTIN HERRENKNECHT: Before, let's say 300
years, we built cuckoo clocks and, today, we build tunnel-boring machine. So we changed from the . . . MARGARET WARNER:
From cuckoo clocks to tunnel . . . MARTIN HERRENKNECHT: To tunnel-boring machine. MARGARET WARNER: . . . to tunnel-boring machines. That's quite an evolution. (LAUGHTER) MARGARET WARNER: Most of Herrenknecht's
$1.25 billion in sales are worldwide, helping make Germany an export powerhouse. With just a quarter of America's population
and a quarter of its GDP, Germany exports more than the United States in total, notes
Norbert Walter, the former chief economist of Deutsche Bank. NORBERT WALTER, former chief cconomist, Deutsche
Bank: We Germans have 1 percent of the labor force of the world, and we have 10 percent
of the exports in the world. That gives you an idea of how successful and
how oriented towards international markets we are. MARGARET WARNER: The 10-year-old common European
currency also helps. A third of Herrenknecht's sales go to other
Eurozone countries, and pricing his machines in euros, rather than what economists say
would be a far stronger deutsche mark, makes them more competitive abroad. MARTIN HERRENKNECHT: If we were to have 17
different currencies, can you imagine every morning, I should study what is now, let's
say, our relation to the Swiss -- to the French francs, to the peso, to the lira? I couldn't work like this. MARGARET WARNER: We ve come to Germany to
find out why it's doing so much better than its European partners. And part of the reason can be found here,
in the southwest state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The castle behind me may date from the 1700s,
but the economic model they ve developed here is 21st century-plus. Just outside the state capital, Stuttgart,
is another one of Baden-Wurttemberg's high performer, Trumpf. Customers from Harley-Davidson to Apple buy
its laser-driven metal cutting machines, $2.7 billion worth last year. The family-owned firm devotes 8 percent of
revenues to R&D to keep its innovation edge. They invest even more in their 9,000-person
work force, more than half here in Germany. Like most German industries, Trumpf hires
them young, after the equivalent of 10th grade, for a rigorous three-year training and schooling
program and a full-salary job afterward. Most stay far longer. And after college, paid for by the company,
some go on to become managers. Apprentice Simon Richter is 19. SIMON RICHTER, Trumpf: I applied for being
-- training because, yeah, I like the mechanical work, and not only the theoretical stuff at
school. It's so always the same at school, and you
don't know what do you need math for in your life later. MARGARET WARNER: So do you think you have
a good future ahead of you? SIMON RICHTER: Yes, I have. MARGARET WARNER: Trumpf keeps the apprentice
program going even in hard times, as when the 2008 global financial crisis melted down
the company's sales. NICOLA LEIBINGER-KAMMULLER, CEO, Trumpf: It
just hit us. Really went from one hour to the next, we
didn't have any orders. At the same time, all over the world, no order. That was really cruel. MARGARET WARNER: CEO Nicola Leibinger-Kammuller
watched as sales plummeted 40 percent in two years, and she had to drastically cut production. For most firms, that would have meant layoffs,
but not here. NICOLA LEIBINGER-KAMMULLER: It's just a terrible
thought having to lay off people, because we like our employees and we need them. And they are well-trained, and they're loyal. And they have been working for us for decades,
some of them, or many of them have. And it's just a terrible thought to have to
send them away. MARGARET WARNER: Instead, Trumpf turned to
a new German program called Kurzarbeit, or short work, cutting its employees' work hours
and pay. The government made up part of the difference. And they got extra training on their off-days. Judith Schonemeyer and Sebastian Frederick
say they didn't mind reduced wages. At least they kept up their skills. JUDITH SCHONEMEYER, Trumpf (through translator):
We noticed that the financial figures were declining. Right from the beginning, it was clear. For me, it was one or two days a week I didn't
work. We accept less money, so that once the situation
improves, we won't have to start over again. SEBASTIAN FREDERICK, Trumpf (through translator):
It gave us a secure feeling, especially the people with families, that they have job security,
that the company stands behind them and that you get to keep your job. So everybody was happy to do without the 5
percent or extra hours. PETER LEIBINGER, vice chairman, Trumpf: The
desire for security and safety is the most, so to speak, the strongest driver in German
culture. MARGARET WARNER: Nicola's brother, Peter Leibinger,
vice chairman of Trumpf, said the short work program, readily accepted by the German workers,
positioned industry to restart quickly after the downturn, and it paid off big-time for
Trumpf. PETER LEIBINGER: If we hadn't had this opportunity
to use Kurzarbeit, we wouldn't have had the upswing that we saw, meaning 50 percent growth
within one year for a company that makes a very difficult and complicated product and
has to deliver that into the world. This wouldn't have been possible without us
having our work force on board. MARGARET WARNER: The Leibingers' financial
caution also helped them weather the global credit crisis. Trumpf carries no major debt, they say, and
in good times, they bank the extra profits to reinvest later. NICOLA LEIBINGER-KAMMULLER: No yachting, no,
no horses, no racing cars and stuff like that. And that's why usually we have enough money
to reinvest with our money for research and development and buildings and acquisitions
and so on and so forth. MARGARET WARNER: But even Trumpf is feeling
a chill wind now from other E.U. countries, who account for half its sales. Since the euro crisis hit big last summer,
there s been a slowdown in orders from customers in Italy and Spain and even France. PETER LEIBINGER: They said, we'd like to invest,
we could use the extra capacity, but we're just so unsure about the future, we re going
to wait for awhile. MARGARET WARNER: Martin Herrenknecht, with
his European customer base, is torn over what to do about the crisis. This self-made man is frustrated that Germany
is being asked to bail out less prudent and hardworking neighbors. MARTIN HERRENKNECHT: It's nonsense. They should control it in a better way. And it cannot be that we get retirement with
67 and the Greeks with 50. MARGARET WARNER: But then there's economic
reality. Do you think that Germany is going to have
to help support some of these countries? MARTIN HERRENKNECHT: I would say that's quite
clear. MARGARET WARNER: That tension, how to shore
up the euro zone on which Germany depends, without endangering its own hard-won prosperity
is one the Germans haven't yet resolved. GWEN IFILL: In her next report, Margaret looks
at the roiling debate in Germany over whether and when to shore up its indebted neighbors. hS*b hS*b hS*b hS*b urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
Street urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags country-region urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
address urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags State urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
City urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags place JUDY WOODRUFF: And to Europe's debt
crisis Normal Microsoft Office Word JUDY WOODRUFF: And to Europe's debt crisis Title Microsoft
Office Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8
As a German, the stereotypical German accent makes me giggle. By no means do I claim to do any better, I find it genuinely amusing.
What a very german thing to say ;)
Wow, that was a good report. Made me realise what is special here in germany...
I didn't like the Deutsche Bank guy.
Germany FICK JA
Funny, i once visited the Herrenknecht plant in Schwanau which is featured in the video, but at first didn't recognize it because the pronounciation of "Herrenknecht" is totally screwed up :D .
I almost spilled my drink as the gay said: "Everybody was happy with kurzarbeit" .. say w000t??! Thats bullshit! Of course it's better than to lay people off but it not that simple. It's not all sunshine and lollipops over here. My dad lost his job and head it really difficult to find a new.
I really like the idea of kuzarbeit, at least in lieu of layoffs and unemployment. If the government is going to be paying out money to those out of work, they might as well just pay a fraction of that to keep people IN work. It seems to be a win-win: the employees get to keep their jobs, and the employers get to keep their employees, whom they have theoretically invested in greatly.
Germany.