Rubber with a brain: Career paths in rubber technology
Whether it’s car tyres, sealing rings or medical gloves: without elastomers, nothing works, either in industry or in everyday life. Nevertheless, rubber is often overshadowed by plastics.
Yet the sector offers exciting career paths: from dual vocational training through part-time university study to applied research.
From craftsmanship to high-tech: why the rubber industry needs specialists
The history of rubber technology began as early as 1839 – the same year that photography was introduced to the public. At that time, Charles Goodyear, a , discovered that natural rubber could be transformed into permanently elastic rubber by heating it with sulphur. In 1843, Thomas Hancock put vulcanisation into practice for the first time. For a long time afterwards, the industry was shaped more by craftsmanship and practical experience than by the natural sciences and engineering. Today, things are different: the rubber industry has developed into a high-tech sector, with customers placing ever-higher demands on elastomer products.
This also places greater demands on the people who work with the material. Rubber is still regarded as somewhat ‘mysterious’ to this day. After all, every compound is a complex mixture of natural rubber, fillers such as carbon black or silica, plasticisers, anti-ageing agents and cross-linking chemicals. And it is only during vulcanisation that, under pressure and heat, the three-dimensional network is formed which gives rubber its characteristic resilience. Anyone wishing to master this process therefore needs not only knowledge of chemistry, physics and process engineering, but also of design.
Rubber at a glance
- Natural rubber (NR) is derived from the milky sap (latex) of the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis The main producing countries are Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- Synthetic rubbers such as EPDM, NBR, SBR or chloroprene are usually produced from petroleum and specifically tailored for properties such as heat, oil or ozone resistance.
- Vulcanisation: It is only through chemical cross-linking that malleable rubber becomes permanently elastic. The process can only be reversed with great effort, for example through devulcanisation.
- Processing: The most important processes are injection moulding, extrusion, pressing and calendering.
- Largest consumer: the tyre industry.
Plastics and Rubber Technologist
For young talents, the path into the industry often begins with a dual vocational training programme. Since August 2023, the former ‘Process Mechanic for Plastics and Rubber Technology’ has been known as a ‘Plastics and Rubber Technologist’. The profession encompasses several specialist areas. In the ‘ ’ specialisation in moulded parts, for example, trainees process polymers, fillers and additives using processes such as injection moulding, pressing, foaming or thermoforming. They produce mixtures according to recipes, set up production equipment, define process parameters, monitor production and check the quality of the parts.
The job is anything but old-fashioned. Real-time data systems, networked production facilities, cobots, augmented reality for maintenance via smart glasses, and laboratory information systems are increasingly becoming part of everyday working life. And rubber processing in particular – a sector that has long been heavily influenced by empirical knowledge – is benefiting from digitalisation. Added to this are future-oriented topics such as bio-based rubbers and the recycling of waste rubber through devulcanisation. It’s also financially worthwhile to get started: you can find information here on the training allowance and starting salary, as well as on the salary for those with professional experience.
Postgraduate course in rubber technology
Engineers, chemists and physicists bring a wealth of specialist knowledge to the table. However, a traditional degree course rarely provides the interdisciplinary expertise required by rubber technology. Consequently, skilled workers with this profile have always been, and remain, hard to find on the labour market. For this reason, the German Rubber Industry Association (wdk) developed the ‘ ’ (wdk) postgraduate programme in rubber technology in the early 1980s. Since 1985, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) has been offering this programme in collaboration with the wdk and the German Institute for Rubber Technology (DIK).
The concept is that professors from LUH and other universities teach the scientific fundamentals of elastomer science. Experts from industry act as lecturers, teaching topics related to development and production. The curriculum also covers macromolecular chemistry and polymer physics, process engineering, processing, rheology, product testing, quality assurance, recycling and the design of elastomeric components. The aim, therefore, is to supplement existing knowledge with insights from the other specialist areas, thereby improving collaboration between the disciplines. For many graduates, this very degree acts as a springboard to a specialist career in the industry.
Practical research: the DIK in Hanover
Anyone wishing to delve deeper will find another point of contact in Hanover. The German Institute for Rubber Technology was founded in 1981 on the initiative of the rubber industry and the state of Lower Saxony. It is a non-university, publicly funded research institution. The DIK primarily researches the chemical and physical behaviour of rubber and applies the results to practical applications, ranging from elastomer chemistry and simulation to processing. Its subsidiary, DIK Prüfgesellschaft mbH, carries out testing and contract research for industry. In addition, the institute offers its own seminars and is a co-organiser of the WBS.
International training in rubber and plastics: neighbouring countries and experience abroad
In the German-speaking world, a vocational training programme that includes the word ‘rubber’ in its name exists only in Germany. In Austria and Switzerland, comparable apprenticeship programmes fall under the term ‘plastics’. For anyone there with an interest in polymer materials, these are nevertheless the obvious starting point – after all, plastics and rubber are closely related. Dual vocational training is firmly established in both countries, and Austria has recently modernised its apprenticeship programmes:
| Country | Occupation | Duration |
| Germany | Plastics and Rubber Technologist | 3 years |
| Austria | Plastics Process Engineering | 3 years |
| Austria | Plastics Technology | 4 years |
| Switzerland | Plastics Technologist EFZ | 4 years |
K as a career platform: promoting young talent at the world’s leading trade fair
The K trade fair itself is a prime example of just how international the sector is. K 2025 in Düsseldorf attracted more than 175,000 visitors from around 160 countries, with around three-quarters of them coming from abroad. And with the ‘ ’ initiative ‘Young Talents’, K specifically targets young people interested in an apprenticeship or degree course in the plastics and rubber industry.
K takes place every three years. The next edition will therefore run from 18 to 25 October 2028 in Düsseldorf – a date that Young Talents and anyone planning a career in the plastics and rubber industry can already make a note of.
Author: Ann-Kathrin Ullrich | K-Mag
Ann-Kathrin Ullrich enjoys explaining how new ideas from research, technology and industry are changing everyday life. Alongside her work for EuroShop-Mag, she focuses on plastics and rubber in K-Mag: from new materials and processing methods through to testing technology and issues relating to the circular economy.
