Wassim is not someone who pushes himself into the spotlight, but his passion for technology and mechanical engineering is very contagious. He talks about the machines as if they were little works of art, where every detail matters. For him, it is crucial that the technology not only works, but is perfectly tailored to the needs of the clients.
At 18 years old, Wassim came to Germany from Tunisia for university education, alone and without knowing a word of German. Six months and an intensive language course later, he was sitting at the University of Stuttgart, starting off his mechanical engineering studies. He particularly remembers a Swabian professor: “You could barely understand him, not even my German fellow students could.” Despite many small hurdles, he successfully completed his master’s degree and has now been living in Stuttgart for 18 years. He maintains daily contact with his family in Tunisia and has since started a small family of his own.
Through his hobby of model building, he discovered his passion for tooling machines and often refers to portal milling machines as technological marvels. “In these gigantic machines, so many disciplines come together and must function together seamlessly – it still fascinates me,” he says.
Now, for the past eight years, he has been a significant contributor to these technological marvels at Zimmermann. As a design engineer, he first worked on milling heads and later on helped creating automation solutions. “From day one, my colleagues involved me in all tasks.” He greatly values this openness to share knowledge: “Everything I know about machine tools and all that I am able to accomplish today, I owe to my colleagues.” Now, as a department head, this is also how he leads his team of 17. “I see myself as a sparring partner, not someone who simply delegates tasks. My colleagues have a wealth of experience, and together we always find great solutions and I continue to learn something new in the process”.
Working on projects, and developing strategies is the actual fun part, even if it’s often challenging. His biggest project to date: the development of thermo-symmetrical portal systems in a modular design. His greatest pride: seeing the final product in action at the client’s site and especially his team. “Without it, nothing works.”
The fact that Zimmermann is more and more evolving into a solutions provider for complex client requirements lights up his face with a smile. One can really grasp his passion for complex challenges and these gigantic machines. He’s already passed that passion on to his six-year-old son. “At the summer festival, my family came along, and my son stood in awe inside the machine and said, ‘Daddy, this is as big as a house.’” Or, as Wassim would put it: “a technological marvel.”