Training

Small and medium enterprises (SME) in Germany are in a good mood. More than 90 % of the SMEs are in an appropriate economic situation reports the Bundesverband mittelständische Wirtschaft (BVMW). About 38 % of these companies expect a higher turnover in 2014 [1]. But there is one real problem the companies are faced with: the lack of skilled labour.

In order to improve action-oriented trainings, in this paper an approach for results-based evaluation by using evaluation tasks is presented. Thus weaknesses of current programs can be identified and trainings can be continuously improved.

Learning factories in Germany concentrate on the two classic aspects of production: Optimization of production processes (lean management) as well as the efficient use of resources. The learning factory of the chair of production systems at Ruhr-University Bochum considers also the topic management and organization of labour to convey competences in the field of co-determination. In cooperation between the faculty of mechanical engineering and social sciences as well as the office of cooperation RUB/IMU different learning factory exercises have been developed, which impart this learning factory a special significance.

The main goal of a company is to conduct target oriented rationalization efforts. Thus, the challenges are, among others, to transparence, to bundle, to adapt, to re-interpret and to develop personal and organizational competencies for a systematic and methodic planning, designing and implementing resp. a sustainable improvement of processes and value streams. This article describes the further developments of “Value Stream Mapping” (Value Stream oriented Process Management, Value Stream Mapping and MTM, evaluation of alternative value streams, cost development of value streams by changing input parameters). Existing, implicit knowledge will be explicated and systematically bundled along the value stream from different departments of a company. The personal and organizational system and method competencies are therefore available to evaluate improvement measures and to perform their implementation target oriented.

Which sustainable industrial developments remain to having shaped and changed our work in industry and production? If we look back, experience has shown that it is neither possible to develop fully automated factories nor to conserve all human knowledge by means of huge databases. These formerly trendsetting ideas are now outdated. But what we have learned from the failure of these ideas is a useful concept of the so-called HOT approach: First Human, Second Organization and Third Technology. This way, human knowledge and potential in combination with adequate organization can lead to technical innovation. At present, the challenge is to transfer this concept to recent and future ideas, such as the fully automated car or the change to the use of renewable energy sources. Thus, it should be taken into account that technical innovation must always include human and organizational aspects to be truly sustainable.

Increasingly complex and technology-driven markets require a broad knowledge and qualifications of professionals in manufacturing companies. The range of needs for long-term competitive knowledge adaptation is versatile. Especially in view of the forecasted lack of qualified young people, it is more important to sustainably educate existing staff. Thus it is necessary to create sustainable and innovative learning environments which provide the necessary knowledge, qualifications and skills. An adequate and consistent concept represents the advanced Learning Factory (aLF) and is discussed in this paper.

Is demographic change a nightmare being completely at mercy as a business owner? Or is it rather offering opportunities? Demographic changes are only one factor for a successful business development. Along with other challenges to the company’s development, it can be used as an opportunity: Planning and taking measures in the medium and long term on individual, collective and organizational levels will result in a change of leadership.

Knowledge management can be an important competitive advantage for many companies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often have limited access to capital. The challenge in contract logistics is to identify an appropriate knowledge management approach. In particular, the process of proposal preparation is characterized by a high complexity and intensity of specific knowledge. This article presents a knowledge management approach for the tender preparation process of SME in contract logistics.

For most German companies managing demographic change is one of the main future challenges. However, many firms are not yet well prepared to face this development. Nowadays competition is primarily based on knowledge and hence enabling knowledge transfer between older and younger employees has turned to be a key success factor. In this paper we therefore develop a ‘Knowledge Transfer Balanced Scorecard’ in order to provide a hands-on tool for controlling the knowledge transfer process in times of demographic change.

Due to a growing amount of complexity and variants as well as shrinking product life cycles industrial companies meet the challenge to handle a high number of production ramp-ups. Within this context, a fast and smooth ramp-up of assembly systems is becoming more and more a critical success factor. This article describes how smart devices combined with a predictive knowledge database can support and speed up the ramp-up of manual assembly systems in capital goods industries.