In particular, there is a lack of practical I4.0 application skills that prepare young professionals for the implementation of the digital transformation in industry [6, 7]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the majority of the workforce is not made up of career starters, but rather professionals who are being financed by companies with a record high level of expenditure on further training. Nevertheless, around half of the training costs for digitization today remain without measurable effect. More promising are individually tailored learning opportunities for industrial companies and their target groups as well as a focus on teaching effective skills for the implementation of I4.0 [8, 9<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although many industrial companies have been working on the implementation of I4.0 for over 10 years, one of the main reasons for failure is still the lack of actionable skills for the beneficial implementation of digital transformation. The majority of industrial companies (87%) say that the implementation of digital technologies plays a decisive role in their competitiveness, but they aren\u2019t in a position to implement digital technologies in a benefit-oriented manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They see the biggest hurdle as the lack of skilled workers and thus a lack of application knowledge, which leads to increased implementation costs in the company if there\u2019s a lack of training in advance [10, 11]. Due to the growing global shortage of skilled workers, the chance for industrial companies to obtain the desired I4.0 skills through new hires is decreasing. Targeted in-company training for the digital transformation is therefore considered a promising way to counteract the initial situation in the short and long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s therefore hardly surprising that companies are spending exponentially more on training. However, the results of these efforts have so far been sobering. For example, companies are currently still in the status of I4.0 pilot projects and not in the process of comprehensive implementation. At the same time, companies are still in the discovery phase with regard to the skills employees need for I4.0. On the one hand, companies are unaware of their status quo with regard to existing digitalization skills (due to a lack of statistics in personnel databases). On the other hand, there\u2019s a lack of clarity regarding the job profiles and learning needs of employees with regard to I4.0. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, companies lack suitable further training opportunities, which is why the knowledge gap in terms of digitization is constantly widening and the necessary know-how development isn\u2019t progressing [12<\/a>]. Nowadays, digital innovations are generally created by younger people, with the necessary domain and process knowledge coming predominantly from experienced employees. The latter is becoming increasingly critical as a result of demographic change, as experience often isn\u2019t documented or documented insufficiently [13].<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, there’s a considerable knowledge and qualification gap with regard to the digital transformation that hasn\u2019t yet been specifically identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether digitalization, climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic, the enormous current and future challenges demand new skills from employees. There are already several studies on vocational and academic training that call for adapted curriculums with new technological and digital content (e.g. digital processes, data analysis, digital problem solving) [4].<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to technological knowledge, transformative and key digital skills seem to play a central role for successful digital transformation within industry in the future, although the necessary application skills in particular can\u2019t yet be described in more detail. According to experts, the latter can only be identified on a company-specific basis. A current recommendation for industrial training is therefore a two-stage approach: an initial and continuous assessment of skill requirements followed by the identification and implementation of targeted further training measures in a second stage. However, the specific skill requirements of companies with regard to the benefit-oriented digital transformation are currently unknown [8, 14<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n The industrial skills requirements were therefore examined in more detail as part of a study on the learning needs of various international manufacturing companies. In the period from November 2022 to March 2024, 250 employees from 25 internationally distributed locations of various industrial companies were surveyed on their current skills and learning needs for a successful digital transformation to I4.0. An online questionnaire was set up to identify the industrial learning needs and classify them according to their depth of knowledge. Various hierarchical levels were selected in order to capture the effects of the digital transformation on qualification requirements across the board. The employees surveyed were divided into three different target groups:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The target groups examined were asked to assess their current level of competence with regard to the subject areas investigated and, in a second step, to indicate the level of competence required today and in the future. For this purpose, as shown in Figure 1, various competence levels were defined in advance using the scale shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to [15], there\u2019s a significant difference between knowledge, application and action competence. The latter has a considerable influence on the result through transfer knowledge and determines whether digital transformation plans and projects are successful or fail during implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the “onboarding level”, employees can describe the change in the course of I4.0. With the “basic level”, they know the connections and background in detail. The “advanced level” allows the knowledge to be transferred to the application. Only at the “expert level” do they achieve sustainable transfer performance and targeted problem solving. Figure 2 shows the mean values of the study results of various target groups with regard to their digital transformation skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All target groups rate the importance of digitalization in today’s work as very high. In terms of I4.0 skills, managers rated themselves lowest (slightly below basic level). Shopfloor employees rated their skills slightly higher and only IT experts placed themselves in the advanced level, but not in the expert level. However, they already need to be at the latter level to successfully master their tasks. For the future, all target groups would like to see a higher level of application expertise for the beneficial implementation of I4.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study also asked about the learning barriers and needs for I4.0. The five most common learning barriers for I4.0 were lack of time (35%), lack of learning support (29%), lack of desire (24%), lack of offers (22%) and lack of on-site learning environments (16%). With regard to learning environments, the target groups call for practical training on hand, e.g. in a learning factory (64%), instead of digital or hybrid training (36%). Experts (79%) and shopfloor employees (64%) have the greatest need for a physical learning environment: managers prefer flexible hybrid learning opportunities (55%) alongside a learning factory (45%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The motivational factors of the various target groups are striking. The majority of shopfloor employees (64%) are only interested in digitalization training if they relate to their current task and this is evident in the training. In addition to enabling them to carry out their work (77%), the main motivation is to enable them to perform higher-value activities (68%). The IT experts hope that application and target-oriented training will enable them to solve their current problems to implement I4.0 (95%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main incentives for managers are to make better decisions in the context of I4.0 and to achieve their targets (84%). 79% of experts were able to name their current and future learning needs with regard to digital transformation. Of the shopfloor employees and managers, only 43% and 54% respectively were able to name their current and only 15% and 12% respectively were able to name their future I4.0 learning needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, all target groups lack target- and application-oriented skills. There\u2019s also a consensus that the development of expert and proficient competence levels through training measures is needed in real learning factories. At the same time, there’s a great deal of uncertainty regarding future learning requirements in the course of I4.0 that still need to be derived and defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\nChallenging status quo within the industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"North's](\"https:\/\/industry-science.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Dommermuth_I4S-24-4_Figure-1-1024x437.png\")
Learning needs in international comparison<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Classification](\"https:\/\/industry-science.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Figure-2-NEW-1024x359.jpg\")
\n
Use of open and modular learning factories for the implementation of I4.0 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Representation](\"https:\/\/industry-science.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Dommermuth_I4S-24-4_Bild-3-1024x515.jpg\")