Training for digital experts in the manufacturing and maintenance industry
Digitalization in the manufacturing and maintenance industry, as well as in (off)shore wind, is in full swing. This means that the required knowledge and skills for maintenance engineers has changed. Maintenance is increasingly being performed 'smartly'. The IJmond region is therefore the first in the Netherlands to enrich technical training with Smart Maintenance ('smart maintenance').
The companies and schools working together within Techport have jointly drawn up a plan to revamp the courses. To implement this plan, ROC Nova College will receive nearly 1.6 million euros from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science's Regional Investment Fund mbo 2019-2022. In addition, the Nova College will receive a €250,000 subsidy from the province of North Holland for this project. The participating companies are investing themselves by providing hours, knowledge and expertise.
Still huge shortages in tech sector
Despite increased unemployment due to the corona crisis, there are still occupations in which work is easy to come by, such as machine mechanics. And that's even though the UWV has not seen such a large decrease in the number of open jobs per job seeker in the five years they have been measuring it. That's according to an analysis of the UWV Tension Indicator Labor Market by NOS. Those figures show the relationship between supply and demand in the labor market: for which professions is there a crying shortage? Because the demand for personnel may have decreased due to the corona crisis, but for the most sought-after professions, including the technical sector, the call for personnel remains high.
Demand from the companies
Part of the plan created by the companies is Smart Maintenance MBO. This is a broadening and deepening of the Process Engineering, MyTec, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Installation Engineering and General Operational Engineering courses at levels 3 and 4. Within these courses, students will soon be able to develop into Smart Maintenance experts. Edward Straus, Smart Maintenance-MBO program manager at Nova College and Techport, explains: 'With Smart Maintenance-MBO we are providing an answer to the demand from companies in the process and manufacturing industry in the IJmond region to train professionals - qualitatively and quantitatively - for the smart and sustainable maintenance of their technical processes. In fact, Smart Maintenance is part of the fourth industrial revolution. This revolution makes it possible to collect and analyze real-time data about machines and processes, enabling faster, more flexible and efficient processes and to produce better-quality goods at lower costs. This has profound implications for production relationships between suppliers, producers and customers, and for the relationship between humans and machines. It increases the efficiency of processes and companies, allows new sectors to emerge, enables new business models, and affects the competitiveness of companies and regions. Recent research among manufacturing companies shows that Smart Maintenance is booming. The Netherlands wants to be among the European vanguard in this. This also requires a different profile of employees in industry: a Smart Maintenance expert. This will also make a technical education attractive to students who until now have not been keen on 'pure engineering'. Thus, within their own field of study (MyTec, process engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, installation engineering and general operational engineering), students will be introduced to the latest Smart Maintenance insights and techniques and will be able to function in all parts of the maintenance cycle: detecting, analyzing, planning, executing and feedback.
More Smart Maintenance courses
Henno van Horssen, program manager of Techport: 'We are proud of this collaboration within Techport. Schools and companies are working together to train for the innovative, clean and smart manufacturing industry of the future. This is important for IJmond. By granting the subsidy, the ministry recognizes that it is a good and important plan for our region.' A continuing education program Smart Maintenance for maintenance engineers will also start soon, and an Associate Degree (shortened college) Smart Maintenance will be developed (starting September 2021). All these courses will make use of the pilot plant of the Fieldlab Smart Maintenance Techport.
ROC Nova College is implementing this Techport project together with: Tata Steel, MyTec Companies, Facta, Microtechnology, GWOC, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Hogeschool Inholland, Technisch College Velsen, Kennemer College and Province of North Holland.