Festo’s vision for its new academy is to provide a hub where managers, engineers, technicians and operational staff can be capacitated to face the challenges and leverage the opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution.
From the first meetings in Germany and the coining of the term, Festo has been at the forefront of Industry 4.0. Dr Eberhard Veit, previously chairman of Festo, is one of four industry representatives on the steering board for the German Federal Government’s high-tech strategy.
Today, Festo considers the different perspectives of Industry 4.0 from developments in technology, new production processes and the interaction between man and machinery, and what this means in terms of training and development.
When surveying the market, it was found that current training offerings in Industry 4.0 are fragmented, and mostly limited to expert talks, and product specific demonstrations.
Festo Didactic has always adopted the approach of an equal mix of theory and practical in their training offerings. Therefore, this new training focuses on technology, using a variety of industry sourced components from various suppliers. This ensures relevance when the incumbents apply their newly-acquired skills in industry.
The Festo Industry 4.0 Academy has a curriculum aptly named Qualification 4.0. This was created during years of research in the areas of smart factories, digitalisation, augmented reality, artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing. This learning was implemented in the Festo Scharnhausen Learning Factory in Germany, a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility where the ultimate goal of ‘batch size one at costs equal to mass production’ was realised.
In order to bring the factory of the future to the classroom, Festo Didactic developed the CP (cyber physical) Factory, the ideal training and research platform for Industry 4.0. The CP Factory provides the basis of all practical work in the academy and covers concepts like ERP, MES, autonomous robotics, augmented reality, RFID and cloud computing.
A study by the VDMA, the German Machine Builders Association, has identified that training in Industry 4.0 should go way beyond components and systems, and should include soft skills like leadership, change management, teamwork and autonomous thinking. The Qualification 4.0 bouquet thus offers short form courses, ranging from two to five days, addressing exactly these areas.
In order to establish training needs, Festo has developed an application called I4.0QuickCheck, which determines an organisation’s readiness to adopt Industry 4.0. With nearly one hundred years of industry experience, the establishment of the Festo Industry 4.0 Academy positions it as an ideal partner in process automation and technical training.
For more information contact Ntando Ndokweni, Festo, +27 11 971 5535, [email protected], www.festo.co.za
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