Relevance on EU level:Manufacturing is a central pillar of the European economy – the EU manufacturing sector accounts for 2 million companies and 33 million jobs. Our challenge is to ensure that all industrial sectors make the best use of new mechatronics technologies & solutions and manage their transition towards higher value digitized products and processes. MechMate project addresses the problems of manufacturing SMEs’ managers, people employed in SMEs (technicians, administrative staff) as well as students and trainers/teachers in terms of mechatronics and lack of training means to facilitated innovation mechatronics - based technology introduction in manufacturing SMEs in Europe. The main objective of the current project is to provide an interactive training on mechatronics and to assist advanced mechatronics-based technologies introduction in manufacturing SMEs across Europe. Thus project realization would increase level of innovativeness of SMEs and finally result for them in a significantly higher competitiveness on the European and global market. Main target groups:+ SME managers from manufacturing sector+ People employed at SMEs (technicians, administrative staff)+ Vocational students and trainers/consultants in the field of Mechatronics+ Heads of departments (production, logistics, etc.) in manufacturing SMEsPartnership:MechMate will be developed in close cooperation of five partners from four European countries – Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Greece. All partners have joined in the current project because of the identified by their experts importance for development of curricula and respective innovative training tools to improve and enhance the competences of SME’s employees in the field of industrial mechatronics technologies & systems. All partners have the necessary experience not only in the respective professional area they occupy but also in transnational cooperation in different EU projects and programmes. This will contribute to the creation of a working and successful partnership within and after the project realization. Intellectual Outputs: O1 - Report of the present State-of-the-artO2 - MechMate CurriculaO3 - MechMate MethodologyO4 - MechMate Training courseO5 - MechMate Guidelines for SMEs and VET providersAll intellectual outputs will be hosted on an interactive web-based platform, including e-learning approach. European added value:The project will have a great impact on how innovation is managed in European manufacturing SMEs. The project’s impact on them will be in form of mechatronics training of their managers and employees. Increased innovativeness of their workers will be further impacts. In addition, increased competitiveness of their operations will increase the competitiveness level of European manufacturing SMEs.
SMEs are the backbone of the European economy. Numbering over 20 million, SMEs represent 99% of European businesses, and provide 85% of all new jobs (Source: FLASH EUROBAROMETER 421, “Internationalisation of SMEs”, October 2015). Manufacturing is a central pillar of the European economy – the EU manufacturing sector accounts for 2 million companies and 33 million jobs. Fast technological progress requires from employees, technicians and professionals in industry to constantly refresh and update their professional knowledge. This is especially the case in manufacturing sector, where many jobs require knowledge from mechatronics, which is identified as one of the structural drivers of change in the industry. For this reason, it is important to provide high quality, learning sources and training materials to employees and students in this field. Up-to-date learning contents, delivered by using modern education methods and suited to the needs of manufacturing SMEs’ managers, people employed in SMEs (technicians, administrative staff) as well as vocational students and trainers/consultants, have to be available for this purpose. MechMate project addresses the problem of lack of training means to facilitated innovation mechatronics - based technology introduction in manufacturing SMEs in Europe tailored for manufacturing SMEs’ managers and workers (technicians, administrative staff) as well as students and trainers/teachers. The core product of the project is the "MechMate Training Course" – the course itself as well as all other training materials included in the MechMate training is meant to reflect and address the training needs of the project target groups in the field of mechatronics and advanced technologies and to equip them with the necessary skills and competencies to effectively implement and use innovative mechatronic-based technologies into the everyday working processes. The training modules in MechMate training programme cover the main aspects of Mechatronics: Module 1 "Mechanics and machine elements" Module 2 "Fundamentals of electrical engineering and electronics" Module 3 "Signals, systems and control in mechatronics" Module 4 "Digital Systems" Module 5 "Embedded systems in mechatronics" Module 6 "Communication interfaces and protocols" Module 7 "PLC systems" Module 8 "Measurement and data acquisition" Module 9 "Sensors in mechatronics" Module 10 "Actuators in mechatronics" The training course is accompanied by the MechMate Methodology, Curricula and MechMate Guidelines for SMEs and VET providers. The "MechMate Methodology" - a detailed didactic methodology specially designed for the MechMate training course in mechatronics. The Methodology combines new learning approaches including classical and e-learning. The document provides general information to the used e-learning method, e-learning content design, online collaborative learning, as well as detailed overview of the e-learning platform of MechMate (Coursevo), information about Coursevo services, organisation and course management. The MechMate Curricula – a modular curriculum for the MechMate training course in mechatronics applicable for managers and employees in SMEs, VET providers, as well as university students and teachers. This product is a core product for the whole project and is based on the results from the conducted desk research and focus groups with representatives of project target groups in Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Greece. The curriculum outlines the main topics that are included in the MechMate training course. The Guidelines will help manufacturing SMEs’ managers, people employed in SMEs (technicians, administrative staff), as well as VET providers, students and trainers/teachers in terms of mechatronics effectively use the MechMate learning materials and interactive platform. All of the MechMate project products were elaborated based on the results from a conducted desk research and focus groups with representatives of MechMate project target groups in Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia and Greece. Therefore they precisely reflect the project target group needs in terms of comprehensive well prepared training environments in the field of mechatronics and advanced technologies.