Berlin/Frankfurt am Main – Vocational training and continuing education in the metal and electrical industries must be updated to ensure they are suitable for the world of Industry 4.0—but this does not require new job profiles. Rather, the curricula must be expanded to include new content, such as data security. To this end, the training regulations for industrial metal and electrical trades are to be revised as part of a partial amendment. This is the only way to ensure that workers will be able to successfully handle digital work in the future. Additional qualifications should be provided for more advanced requirements in individual occupations. This is what Gesamtmetall, VDMA, ZVEI, and IG Metall—as social partners for training and qualification in the metal and electrical industries—have proposed in jointly developed recommendations for action.
In addition, the responsible social partners consider it important to provide implementation guidance for training in the context of digitalization and Industry 4.0 and to develop subject-specific teaching and media technology concepts for schools and workplaces.
The proposals are now to be coordinated with the relevant federal ministries and decision-makers and swiftly implemented through an “agile” process. According to the four participating partners, the goal should be for companies to be able to provide training in the updated occupations starting in August 2018.
In the spring of 2016, Gesamtmetall, VDMA, ZVEI, and IG Metall agreed in a social partner agreement to examine the Industry 4.0-relevant apprenticeship occupations and continuing education programs in the M E sector to determine how they align with the requirements of digitalization. After just under a year, the results are now available in the form of joint recommendations for action. These were discussed with representatives from companies, vocational schools, and academia and developed following an evaluation of existing studies.
The social partners are thus fulfilling their responsibility to continuously review job profiles in the metal and electrical industry and adapt them to meet current needs. At the same time, however, they also highlight the innovative structure of today’s occupations, which ensures a high degree of flexibility for companies in training and largely incorporates the current requirements of Industry 4.0.
At the end of 2016, the metal and electrical industry employed approximately 3.85 million people in Germany. Their experience and expertise are key success factors for companies, which must be continuously maintained through modern vocational training and practical continuing education.
