Skills for Industrie 4.0 – Training Requirements and Solutions (Short Version)

21 Oct Skills for Industrie 4.0 – Training Requirements and Solutions (Short Version)

National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)
2016

Industrie 4.0 is bringing lasting changes in the workplace. Technologies that connect things, data, and processes are placing new demands on employees and management, especially in industry. Workplace training for Industrie 4.0 is thus the key to the success of industrial enterprises. The implementation of the digital transformation possesses particular challenges for SMEs. At the same time, however, Industrie 4.0 is making new, digital continuing professional development formats available that allow training content to be precisely tailored to the knowledge and needs of staff and management. The constantly changing list of skills required for Industrie 4.0 must be regularly updated so that the relevant adjustments in the education system can be made. In the future, the focus will be on interdisciplinary thinking and acting, cross-functional process know-how, and IT skills involving both specialised and more general application knowledge. The goal should be to prevent a twofold digital divide between large and small industrial enterprises and between high-skilled and low-skilled workers. SMEs should receive special support to help them develop the skills needed for Industrie 4.0.