Saarbrücken, November 17th, 2016. No matter whether intelligently networked production processes or new conditions in the area of IT security are involved: Industrie 4.0 entails changes not only in terms of machines and business models. For employees, the developments in this area mean that they must continuously adapt their know-how and skills – throughout their entire working career. Just how this can succeed was the topic of discussions, involving inter alia the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel, Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, Siemens Board Member Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm, and IG Metall First Chairman Jörg Hofmann.

“In the long term, Industrie 4.0 will only succeed if we put the people in the focus of our attention. Digital literacy will be the key issue for successful participation in the employment environment in the future. This has an impact on eight million people working in the industrial sphere, and naturally also affects the 260,000 vocational training positions that industry creates each year. This is why we at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs have presented a comprehensive policy paper for digital literacy at the IT Summit to cover each and every phase of working life, and digital literacy must start as early on as possible; however, it can’t be allowed to stop in the school and at university, but instead must continue throughout people’s entire working lives. This is where the vocational training schools play a particularly important role, which is why we intend to start a comprehensive programme for the state-of-the-art equipment of vocational schools. If we want Industrie 4.0, then we need Vocational Schools 4.0 too“, said Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka: “Digitization is changing the world of work. We’ll be able to shape this process of change positively by aligning the processes of qualification to the industrial and working world of the future. Our intention with the implementation of the programme scheme ‘The Future of Work‘ is to ensure that technological and social innovation accompany each other hand in hand. The scheme will sponsor pilot projects in companies designed to identify new and practical models for qualification, health protection, and work structures and organization. At the same time, with the Vocational Training 4.0 project the Federal Research Ministry is following new approaches towards the modernization of training vocations.“
 
Jörg Hofmann, First Chairman of IG Metall, the main metalworkers’ union in Germany, pointed out: “Industrie 4.0 will be of benefit for everyone involved only when it is accompanied and supported by changes in the areas of corporate, management, and industrial culture. This in turn requires the lived co-determination and participation of the workforces in the companies. By creating such an environment, it will be possible to motivate all categories of employees to actively take part in the process and to qualify themselves for activities in the digital working world. Important tips on how to achieve this are also given in the action recommendations of the working group on work, education and training established by Plattform Industrie 4.0 to promote vocational qualification. An indisputable fact: preventive and needs-oriented qualification is the best way to secure employment levels in this era of technological transformation.“

Plattform Industrie 4.0’s recommendation: the accurate analysis of changes and the active promotion of qualification

Which changes will result from the ever-increasing degree of digitization in the working world? What opportunities are open to employees for flexible advanced training? These are just two of the questions that are being tackled by social partners in the platform. The publication “Die digitale Transformation im Betrieb gestalten – Beispiele und Handlungsempfehlungen für Aus- und Weiterbildung“ (Shaping digital transformation in companies – examples and action recommendations for basic and advanced vocational training; currently only available in German) presents 15 projects currently in progress that illustrate the competences required by employees in the future and how these competences can be mediated at the company level.

One example shows just how a company accurately analyses the changes going on in its operations and is systematically adapting the training contents, teaching methods, and trainer competences to meet these changes. Another exemplary company demonstrates how various training areas are being intermeshed with each other to cover its requirements for skilled IT security employees. This company has established a vocational training chain that integrates academic and basic and advanced training elements leading to the qualification of highly skilled Cyber-Security Professionals.

Implementing qualification in ongoing operations: the APPsist system shows how it’s done

During her walkabout at the summit, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel was shown the APPsist system by Dr. Eberhard Veit for the Festo AG together with Jörg Hofmann as an impressive demonstration of just how innovative media can be used to create conditions that enable employees to acquire new skills in ongoing industrial operations. APPsist is a knowledge and assistance system created and developed in social partnership that automatically adjusts to the employees’ requirements for support, thus enabling them to be flexibly deployed in the company. At the same time, the system supports employees by providing learning functions and background information for the acquisition of new competences.

Standardization in Industrie 4.0 proceeding apace: reference archi-tecture model RAMI 4.0 in the international standards organizations ISO/IEC

Qualification, interoperability, safe production, customer and user orientation, and standardization – these are the areas in which the Plattform Industrie 4.0 is providing targeted impulses for companies and other interested parties. “Besides the recommendations for action, we’ve also made substantial headway in the area of standardization. We have, for example, submitted the reference architecture model RAMI 4.0 developed in the Plattform Industrie 4.0 for adoption as a DIN specification, meaning that the three major dimensions of IT, life cycle, and automation hierarchy can now be summarized into one model for the very first time”, said Prof. Dr. Siegfried Russwurm. This also constitutes a major step forward in the direction of the efforts to achieve international standardization for Industrie 4.0. RAMI 4.0 has now also recently become a topic of discussion in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardization panels. Regarding standardization, the IT Summit is also the venue for Plattform Industrie 4.0’s publication of an interaction model for the administration shell. This is a set of regulations that – in the same way as the Duden dictionary does for the spoken language – defines specific vocabularies for the communication between machines, sensors, and products.

After two years of successful work, Prof. Dr. Russwurm has regularly passed on the chair of the Steering Committee to his successor, Bernd Leukert, Board Member of SAP. The platform’s Steering Committee, which is made up of several highly qualified entrepreneurial persons, is responsible for the industrial strategic development, the conceptual orientation, and the consolidation of the results of the task forces. “In his term of office Prof. Dr. Russwurm has played a major role in ensuring the Plattform Industrie 4.0’s success by providing many impulses”, says Leukert. “This is where I look forward to taking over and continuing his successful work, for instance by developing the innovative test scenarios for companies and medium-sized enterprises in particular and implementing them in the practical environment.”

Plattform Industrie 4.0 expands the range of international cooperation schemes

The exchange of ideas and concepts entertained by the Plattform Industrie 4.0 with several international alliances has intensified further still in recent months: joint work schedules with the partners in France (Alliance Industrie du Futur), Japan (Robot Revolution Initiative), the USA (Industrial Internet Consortium), and China foresee among other aspects a close cooperation in the area of standardization. Experts of the Plattform Industrie 4.0 and of the Industrial Internet Consortium, for example, are developing ideas as to how international test fields for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be cooperatively shaped. The practical experience gained in these tests shall then be systematically used for the further development and integration of the already established RAMI 4.0 and IIRA reference architecture models.

The platform is also engaged in an intensive exchange of ideas with the European Commission regarding the implementation of Industrie 4.0. At the invitation of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and the EU Commission, the first European stakeholder forum will be taking place in Essen from 31 January thru 1 February 2017. In the context of the German G20 presidency, the individual national platforms will convene for a meeting in Berlin in the middle of March 2017 – Plattform Industrie 4.0 will naturally also have a place at the table.

About Plattform Industrie 4.0

Plattform Industrie 4.0 is the central network to advance digital transformation towards Industry 4.0 in Germany. In close cooperation with politics, industry, science, associations and trade unions, it develops and coordinates information and networking services in order to make Industry 4.0 solutions better known among companies and to deploy them on site. As one of the largest international and national networks, it supports German companies – particularly medium-sized companies – in implementing Industry 4.0. It provides companies with decisive impulses through examples of company practices from across Germany as well as concrete recommendations for action and test environments.
www.plattform-i40.de

Media Contacts

Dr. Jonas Gobert
Plattform Industrie 4.0
+49 30 53607729
jonas.gobert@ifok.de