The increasing requirements of the customer concerning the design and layout of furniture and interior design demands a vocational training of joiners that meets these standards. The company processes are mainly orientated on the manufacturing itself and hardly allows room for a training of designing skills. Vocational teachers are therefore asked to attach a greater importance on these designing skills and implement them in as many modules as possible during the vocational training. Teachers at vocational schools and trainers at companies mainly have a great ability of manual shaping/manufacturing skills, though they often lack adequate designing skills in the manufacturing of furniture and interior design. Professional weaknesses particularly exist in the fields of designing and graphic representations, creative possibilities and visualization technologies (3-D presentations). These considerable shortcomings have been noticed by all teachers at the participating european schools. A transnational and active engagement during a project can balance out these deficiencies. The aim of the project is to improve the designing competence and therefore the involved methodical/didactical skills of the trainers and teachers and as a further step to transfer these skills to the joiner trainees/apprentices. The participants of the project are trainers of joineries of different sizes, as well as joiner-teachers at vocational schools and, during the final two stages of the project, joiner trainees/apprentices. 5 trainers and designers, 24 teachers and 10 apprentices/trainees will take part in a total of 12 LTTA´s. There will be 5 school locations and at each location one different module of the training/school plan will be in the focus. Each LTTA is divided into 2 project stages: During the first stage the assignment will be analyzed and first drafts will be developed. Due to the involvement of the professional designers, improved drafts are to be expected and will be visualized with the 3-D CAD system. The first stage will be completed with a 2-D CAD shop drawing and the production of a prototype. During the second project stage, the drawings will be enhanced, component parts will be drawn, basic programming knowledge will be taught and CNC programs will be developed. The final product will be manufactured and put together. Major tasks of the project management will be the planning of the milestones, the managing of each stage, project controlling and the allocation of responsibilities. Furthermore, a central task will be report-writing and maintaining communication between the project participants. The project coordinator is responsible for all major project-management tasks. Those are: Cost-controlling, appointment-controlling, risk-controlling, milestones-planning and LTTA’s coordinating, managing of all documents and receipts of every participant, writing the mid-project and final report. The aspired aim of the project is a considerable improvement of skills in the field of designing furniture and interior design of the involved trainers and teachers. This will be proved by analyzing the regular self-evaluation sheets. The project group will create a guideline for designing furniture which will be published on a website established and maintained by the project coordinator. Stakeholders and interested teachers and trainers will be able to find all LTTA reports and designs of the participants on this website. As a prospect the project partners expect an improvement in the designing skills of the joiner-apprentices/trainees. This should lead to the fact that manufactured products, as well as exam and competition pieces show a high level of design quality. Therefore a higher placement at design competitions and a high acceptance and great enthusiasm with individual customers can be achieved.
The successful implementation and completion of the project on May 28, 2021 is based on the objective of a significant improvement in the skills of the participants involved in the field of drafting and design, didactic planning and implementation of design processes and knowledge of CAD and CNC systems in wood technology. The structural organization of the LTTA based on the curricula of the participating countries resulted in a gradual and systematic improvement in the skills of the participants, starting with simple, small wooden products and developing basic design knowledge and skills (perspective drawings, basics of shapes, proportions, color effects, contrasts, Materials) of the participants. In the further course of the implementation of the LTTA, the work orders (customers contract) became more extensive and complex. The development of didactic and methodical teaching and learning steps and learning materials for work in class levels of the carpenter training became an integral part of this process in every LTTA. In the future, trainees will be able to independently carry out the essential work steps for a goal-oriented design process in individual, partner and small group work. Very important work steps here are the perspective freehand sketching, the production of models in scale, the production of prototypes and the drawing work with 3-D and 2-D CAD systems. An important aid is the orientation on the `Design Manual´, a guide book for the design of furniture, which was developed by the project group. Important decision-making questions guide the learner through the active development of the design process. In the second phase of the LTTA, the basics of different 3-D CAD systems (Inventor, Pytha, Solidworks, Rinocerus, Ironcad) were learned by the participants so that they could make an independent assessment for use in their vocational school classes. This was also done with a total of four different WOP systems (e.g. Woodwop, Alphacam, HolzHer) for programming the CNC machining centers. Thanks to the reliable, trusting and competent cooperation between the school project managers and the project coordinator, a total of 48 participants were able to improve their skills and pass on their knowledge in the companies and vocational schools (multipliers). The majority of the participants were vocational school teachers in the professional field of wood technology with the profile carpenter, technician or master. Three business owners and foremen were able to contribute their technical and business skills to the project process and also gain new knowledge and skills from the design skills of the other participants. The total of 21 participating trainees in LTTA No. 11 and 12 were in their third year of training as a carpenter and had knowledge and skills (TSM1 - TSM3) in practical machine work. In the self-evaluation, all trainees confirmed an extensive expansion of competencies, which affects both the technical as well as the social and methodological area. The European component of the project was expressly rated very positively by the trainees. The European component of the project is expressed in the design diversity of the manufactured products and in the intensive contact between the participants during and between the LTTA. An example is the virtual training of several days of the Danish colleagues for the Lübeck colleagues, which concerned the CAD software `Solidworks´ and which took place successfully in spring 2021 (lockdown). These contacts contribute to the fact that the project can be viewed at the vocational schools as a model for further European exchange projects in the field of industrial and craft professions. By successfully improving the skills of teachers and trainers in the areas of design education and CNC manufacturing technology, the project can have an impact on the training of future apprentices in the carpentry trade. An increase in the mobility of individual trainees but also of teachers will in future be an attractive feature of the participating European vocational schools and companies and will create a radiance inside and outside the vocational school centers. The goals, activities, results and effects described have been achieved through the enormous effort of all those involved and have now been completed.