In today’s fast changing word the digital transformation brought new brand challenges into the work environment as well. The labour market is constantly transforming and demands new competences. In these dynamically developing and uncertain circumstances managers have key role, they are the ones who have to coordinate the adaptation to Industry 4.0 in a sustainable way, by preparing and leading their organisations and their people into the new era. Their knowledge and competences will play a strategic role. The transition to Industry 4.0 won’t affect only the industry, but as a global industrial revolution, also numerous other connected fields, such as vocational education, job market, society and economy. It will be essential to develop transversal competences linking them to the prevailing needs of the economy. Employees will have to be open to change, possess greater flexibility to adapt to new roles and working environments and become accustomed to continuous interdisciplinary learning. Cedefop’s European Skills&Jobs survey revealed that 43% of EU adult employees has recently experienced new technologies at work, such as introduction of machines and ICT systems. For many employees, it is more important how new technology is introduced than the technology itself. The digital era is destroying the organizational hierarchy, and artificial intelligence endangers habits in the job market. Although corporate profits can grow, people also need to find a place in a new system that takes time. Primary target groups will receive the project results and benefit from the positive impacts directly. These are: - Middle management of SMEs who are responsible for the preparation/transition to Industry 4.0; - Employees and teams managed by the above target group, implementing it; - Decision and institutional policy makers, HR experts, training institutes The consortium is composed of various actors from different fields - university, manufacturing company, chamber of commerce, training and consulting companies from the fields of innovation/behaviour analysis/Industry 4.0 – which will ensure a broad overview, cross-sectoral cooperation and more innovative outcomes. P1- TREBAG Ltd. (coordinator, Hungary) has significant practice in EU project coordination, training material development, training delivery and business consultancy. P2- NUI Galway is one of the top 250 universities worldwide, with significant research work and commitment to the promotion of European Charter & Code for Researchers’ principles. It is strongly focused on Innovation. P3 – Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia - Institute for Business Education is one of the education and training providers with longest tradition and experience in development, organization and implementation of professional and technical seminars, short- and long-term courses and other events for the needs of clients. P4 – Tabela Espontanea provides high quality international services in two main areas: corporate trainings and human capacity development; ICT consultancy. They are the specialist of behaviour analysis facilitating resilience and personal/organisational proficiency. P5 - KISMC is an NGO and key actor for innovation in Bulgaria. It runs an “Innovation management academy” for Bulgarian businesses and promotes the adoption of Innovation Management at national level. P6 - IDEC is an adult training and consulting company with expertise in the field of training program development. P7 - ARTO is a consultancy and training company experienced in facilitating transition to Industry 4.0. P8 - Robot-X plays a leading role in the Hungarian market concerning industrial automation and introducing Industry 4.0 process. We designed 3 intellectual outputs to reach our objectives: • IO 1. Transversal skill analysis for transition management to Industry 4.0 + Competence Catalogue and Matrix • IO 2. Training kit including theoretical/conceptual Guidebook, practical Methodology and Online Educational platform offering 3 training modalities • IO 3. 3-day-long Pilot training with supporting materials All IOs have a development leader with relevant experience and know-how, while the tasks are divided between the partners. We pursued sustainable and feasible solutions at the project design. There will be 5 transnational partner meetings - 1st HU, 2nd PT, 3rd SL, 4th EL, 5th BG - and 2 complex learning activities. The latter will provide partners with additional knowledge and practical experience relating TransIt’s most important training modules and innovative training design/delivery. Based on this, the training materials will be fine-tuned. Besides, 8 multiplier events will be organised for the demonstration of the project and its results. In order to ensure the project’s smooth implementation and the quality of the Intellectual Outputs, the project will follow the PDCA method (Plan-do-check-act). Each result will be available at the projects’ web page.
Our basic aim was to link the implementation of Industry 4.0 to workplace innovation, by facilitating the development of transversal skills. The overall goal of our project was to elaborate a professional training kit supporting managers to deal with the challenges of organizational transition to the new era of Industry 4.0. With the 3 outputs we also wanted to support HR policy in an efficient and innovative way. We focused on managers, facilitating them to lead their existing teams and employees to the new era, by getting first prepared themselves, then their people for the new labor market and technological needs. We undertook an innovative training development approach, creating a curriculum that focuses on transversal skills, while raising the awareness regarding the processes of Industry 4.0. Yet, since learning cannot be incorporated into the traditional classroom education, our goal was to implement a work-based learning program. The objective of the project was to create a concentrated work-based training kit for the middle management of SMEs with a technical background, which aims at developing transversal competences necessary for managing the transition to Industry 4.0, in work environment.
In contemporary fast changing societies, the digital transformation brought new brand challenges into workplaces as well, as the labor market demands new competences. In this new environment managers have key role; they are the ones who have to coordinate the adaptation to Industry 4.0 in a sustainable way. Thus, it seemed essential to facilitate the development of transversal competences, by linking them to the prevailing needs of the economy. We were concerned, that employees will have to be open to change, possess greater flexibility to adapt to new roles and working environments, and become accustomed to continuous interdisciplinary learning. Our basic motivation for implementing our project was to address the challenge of introducing technology to a work-based learning reality, for the development of transversal competences. With the planned training kit, we wanted to make sure that managers own the essential skills and competences to prepare themselves and their teams for transition. We also wanted to react to the emerging need from SMAs to adapt a conscious approach towards managing innovation thinking, motivation and collaboration in order to be able to re-define themselves in the new era, embracing innovation.