Follow-up: Think Tank Qualification 4.0

“Employees don't grow on trees.”
Christian Jacobs, qSkills™

Decision-makers from various companies and departments, from IT, Security, Production, and HR, gathered at qSkills™ in Nuremberg on 18.05. for the "Qualification 4.0 Think Tank". Providing insights were Michael Jochem (Director Innovation Cluster Connected Industry, Robert Bosch), Elisabeth Bayer (HR Manager, Siemens Healthineers), and Thomas Kasparbauer (Value Creation Systems, ROHDE & SCHWARZ).

The common goal of this interdisciplinary, moderated dialogue was to provide answers and solutions to pressing questions regarding the qualification of employees in Industry 4.0. Topics included:

• What skills do employees need?

• How do I find suitable employees for Industry 4.0?

• How are work and tasks, e.g. Industrial Security, organized?

• What does this mean for companies in practice?

What led to the format of the Think Tank?
Experts agree: Tailored digital know-how is becoming critical in Industry 4.0 and digitalization. With new horizontal value chains and rapidly increasing stakeholder and market participant connections, interdisciplinary work - seeing the big picture and thinking outside the box - is the order of the day. The required knowledge is broadening, ranging from IT to production topics. This is especially true for further education and personnel. Various departments and HR are involved and should collaborate interdisciplinary.

When it comes to future-critical topics such as Industry 4.0, as an innovative educational provider, we feel obligated to take the lead and help shape and develop solutions. Hence the Think Tank.

If the results had to be summarized briefly, what would the headlines be?
A brief summary of the Think Tank: "People are at the center" and "there are no 'ready-made' employees for Industry 4.0". Participants also agreed: Employees should have a holistic view and be able to understand and oversee the value chain.

In the future, experts will fulfill multiple roles simultaneously. They must be "missionaries" who can "bring along" employees, "politicians" who can involve decision-makers and management, as well as "geeks" with expertise in IT and production.

Beyond expertise, significant additional need for change is emerging: leadership, collaboration, change, organization, communication, to name just a few of the "issues".

What does this mean for the qualification of employees, especially experts, in the future?
The concept of "lifelong learning" is gaining new significance in the context of digitalization and Industry 4.0. Digital know-how becomes outdated relatively quickly, making regular further education a necessity.

And the spectrum of required skills is broadening: In addition to IT knowledge, production and IT security knowledge, as well as soft skills, are increasingly important. Particularly in the security sector, new requirements are emerging: The increasing interconnection of production, the enhanced use of IT make Industry 4.0 vulnerable to hacker attacks. Experts in Industrial Security must have a good overview of value chains, processes, stakeholders, and risks. For this area of activity, the National Platform Industry 4.0 is already calling for the introduction of its own ISO (Industrial Security Officer) with corresponding competencies and cross-cutting know-how.

Not only plant operators, but also manufacturers will increasingly be confronted with the security issue. "Security by Design" is a keyword. Ultimately, it is much safer and also more cost-effective to consider security appropriately during the planning and development of systems and digital products, rather than having to patch and improve insecurely later. This naturally requires new extensive knowledge from planners and developers.

What's next for the Think Tank?
The feedback from the participants was extremely positive. Next, we will establish a user group for further collegial exchange among the participants, which we aim to expand gradually. We will continue the Think Tank as a place for interdisciplinary exchange on other topics as well.

Press contact:

Birgit Jacobs