IVTH

The Team in London November 2017

IN4WOOD – Industry 4.0 for manufacturing.

The aim of the project is to design, develop and recognize a Joint Curricula for filling the skills gaps in Industry 4.0 related technologies and topics for production managers and CEOs of the wood and furniture industry.

So what are our goals?

Currently the furniture and wood sector has identified a shortage of professionals with high qualifications in ICT and other emerging technologies. Some of these specific skills and competences are crucial for managers to operate in a modern business environment.

We aim to equip CEOs and production managers with the right skills for the digitalization of their factories to change them into factories of the future that will improve the conditions for quality job creation.

So how will we achieve this?

By promoting better identification of ICT skills needs and develop a better match between skills and the labour force the market needs.
Creating a complete training path guide for the development of smart furniture factories of the future.
By undertaking a deep analysis of the furniture sector regarding the lack of knowledge and skills in Industry 4.0 and defining the needs of the sector

So what have we delivered so far?

To date we have carried out large scale surveys in the countries represented in In4Wood consortium: Spain, Italy, Germany and UK, with a total production of furniture manufacturing capacity equal to 53€billion and centred on professionals from the sectors, representatives from Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training communities dealing with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Furniture/Woodworking related studies and experts from Key Emerging Technologies. With this, the first milestone of the In4Wood project namely:

Definition of Skills Needs, has been achieved.

This analysis will be further used by the VET providers of the Consortium for the design of the most suitable training paths for the identified target users as well as for profiling the Joint Curriculum Vitae on Industry 4.0 expertise in the wood and furniture manufacturing sector.

So what did the results of our surveys tell us?

Furniture manufacturers and VET experts that participated in the survey agree that the biggest barrier found during the implementation of I4.0 technologies has been the lack of knowledge and skills among staff, along with insufficient training.
Experts that participated in the survey noted that KETs have not been actively involved in training programmes to address issues in the sector. This reinforces the fact that the close relationship between Industry 4.0 competences and the production world needs to be developed.
Blended learning is considered as the most suitable type of training combining a mixture of online and traditional training.
Their a lack of a digital business strategy among furniture industry companies which needs addressed as changing technologies will require new skills among their workers.
Participants from the VET/HE community realise that while KETs are present within their study/work/research programmes this is only at a low skill level in new technology areas such as System Integration, IoT, Autonomous Robots, Cloud Computing and Simulation.
The VET/HE community have some knowledge in the application of new technologies in other sectors and environments such as the automotive industry however the vast majority admit they do not know how KETs could be applied in furniture and woodworking industries which shows a gap in current training programmes promoting the implementation of new technologies in traditional manufacturing sectors.
Participants also recognised in the next 5 years the impact of IoT and IIoT will have on the sector.

So what are our next steps?

We have now started the next stage of activities. These include:

The design and development of a joint curriculum (JCV) for “manufacturers of furniture smart factories” according to the identified needs.
Delivering this JCV on an e-learning platform, using:

gamification techniques to encourage the user to complete the course;
numerous video pills to allow busy CEOs, production managers and students to progress with the course
face-to-face learning blended with online training.

Starting the development of new training materials under open licences.
Ensuring the recognition of the new training courses by implementing ECVET and using EQAVET framework recommendations
Equipping CEOs and production managers with the right skills for the jobs in the factories of the future, and by improving the conditions for job creation.
Ensuring the impact and sustainability of the project by engaging stakeholders and policy-makers.