Interview with Judith Ajubita

How did it come about that you, as a Spaniard, founded a subsidiary for MTE milling machines in Germany in 2008?

I moved to Aachen in 2003. After my studies, I decided to work for a German machine tool dealer in 2004. I wanted to gain work experience there and improve my language skills. This dealer also sold my father’s MTE milling machines in Germany.

In 2005, I decided to stay in Germany for personal reasons and moved to the Westerwald. The question of my professional future arose immediately. As a 25-year-old Spanish mechanical engineer, I was not the first choice for German mechanical engineering companies. The choice of jobs was limited and I searched within a radius of 200-300 km around the Westerwald. Within a few weeks, I received several job offers. I decided on a position as a project engineer at a large pump manufacturer in Ludwigshafen and worked there for almost two years. However, the weekly commute between Montabaur and Ludwigshafen was a challenge that I didn’t want in the long term.

After many discussions with my father, the founder and managing director of the MTE plant in Spain, we developed the idea of setting up an MTE branch in Germany. This was to concentrate on the sale and servicing of MTE milling machines. It was a great idea for the MTE family business in Spain to establish its own company in the most important single market in the world, managed by a qualified family member. We started planning in mid-2007 and founded the company in December 2007.

Entrepreneur and mother: how do you manage the balancing act?

Looking back, it is also amazing for us. All parents ask themselves this question: “How do we reconcile caring for and spending important time with the children with the demands of everyday working life? ” This was only possible together with my husband and our MTE team. It required a lot of energy, hard work and discipline. A great daycare center in Montabaur-Heiligenroth also supported us. With the right partner and team, we managed it, and we are very grateful for that.

Career at MTE: When did the path begin?

Twenty years ago, that was completely unforeseeable. My parents didn’t expect me to study mechanical engineering or join MTE. My father may have hoped, but he never put any pressure on me. He only expected me to do everything I learned or studied as well as possible with diligence and discipline.

Today I have children of my own and I think that perhaps it was the same 20-30 years ago: when parents are entrepreneurs, they ask themselves whether they want their children to have the same hardships, worries and burdens. Fortunately, my parents were not guided by such selfishness. They did not put the interests of maintaining or developing their life’s work before the interests of their children. I am very grateful for that today.

When I met my husband in 2005 and decided to stay in Germany with him, joining MTE was actually out of the question. It’s all the more amusing today that this very step has shaped our lives to this day.