Excerpt
JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): 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 (Newshour) reports on some of the people who help make it Europe's richest country.
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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.
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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.
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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.
America, just maybe we have something to learn from Germany. Train early, don't lay off skilled workers, save for a rainy day?
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