This is why the member companies of the "New Automation" association promote the practice-oriented, technical education of young people. SEW-Eurodrive supplied a mobile system for training in the Learning Factory 4.0 at a vocational school in Mannheim. The Werner-von-Siemens-Schule (WvS2) in Mannheim is one of the pioneers of automation technology in vocational education and training. The didactic concept of this industrial school teaches the basics of this specialist field and provides initial practical experience. The "New Automation" association founded by the ZVEI in 2013 also supports school and university education in this field. It creates a sustainable basis for cooperation between educational institutions and industrial companies and promotes practical development projects. As a founding member of the association, SEW-Eurodrive has launched two pilot projects to make the latest technologies available to the Rhine-Neckar region. One of these is the Learning Factory 4.0 training and demonstration project at WvS2, which implements technical and commercial training content.

Learning factory for manufacturing processes

Industry 4.0 and digitalization are encountered by employees in many companies as concrete changes in work and production processes. Vocational training must accompany this change in order to prepare future employees well for their professional requirements. In recent years, a modern learning environment has been set up at WvS2, the core elements of which are the laboratories for automation, network and assembly technology. The Werner-von-Siemens-Schule is a competence center for automation technology and mechatronics as well as for electrical engineering and information technology in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. It has been incorporating Industry 4.0 topics into its curriculum in a practical way since 2015. The Learning Factory 4.0, which opened in 2021 to simulate practical manufacturing processes, was designed according to the latest industry standards and enables the interdisciplinary combination of technical and commercial training content with state-of-the-art digital information technology. Starting from the customer inquiry through to delivery, the learning factory simulates a production process that is geared towards batch size 1.

SEW-Eurodrive supplied an automated guided vehicle (AGV) from the Maxolution System Solutions business unit's portfolio for the Learning Factory 4.0. Lukas Steibli, Sales Engineer Didactics at SEW-Eurodrive, was in charge of the Learning Factory 4.0 project. With regard to the future expansion of the Learning Factory 4.0, he says: "The open concept of SEW-Eurodrive's mobile systems also allows the didactic content to be easily developed further in the future."

Automation and assembly technology

WvS2 has developed Industry 4.0 teaching systems for student workstations and teaches relevant learning content in automation, information and assembly technology as well as the necessary business processes in a holistic context. The subsystems of the learning factory are explored in greater depth in the automation labs. Among other things, the teaching staff teach the development of software modules, modularization of control programs as well as communication and interfaces to IT. All of these specialist areas form the interdisciplinary basis of Industry 4.0. The students work with the application modules on smaller and more manageable systems that allow them to grasp the interrelationships more quickly and easily. They then acquire in-depth skills in individual technologies during lessons. This approach allows lessons to be flexibly adapted to technological change.

In the assembly laboratory, students assemble components and assemblies into complex machines and systems. In practical exercises, "Pick by Light" technology is used for material provision and at the assembly workstations. The trainees monitor production processes and record statistical data in order to optimize the process. Individualized components are designed in batch size 1 using 3D CAD software in the mechatronics technician apprenticeship and in the automation technology/mechatronics technical college. These are then produced on the school's own 3D printers and fed into the assembly process. The use of collaborative robots is also taught in assembly technology.

IT, ERP and MES

Industry 4.0 processes require the networking of commercial planning, production and IT. In its newly designed network laboratory, WvS2 teaches IT skills that are required for Industry 4.0. Using experimental setups, students learn about the latest technologies that make the entire data path from the sensor to the cloud comprehensible. With the Learning Factory 4.0, work orders are retrieved from the Manufacturing Execution System (MES), statistical data is automatically recorded and made available in a central database.

For practical implementation, there is a cooperation between the industrial Werner-von-Siemens-Schule and the commercial Friedrich-List-Schule (FLS) in Mannheim, as the transition to the ERP system lies within the area of expertise of the FLS as an SAP partner school. By using SAP ERP, students experience the practical implementation of processes within a company. The networking of both schools enables real-time access to real production order data, its analysis and production control.

Cooperation with extracurricular partners

For many years, WvS2 has been a partner in the training of employees of regional companies in the field of automation technology. In recent years, the technical college has established a network with companies in which the students carry out technical work. Since WvS2 presented the new specialist rooms and the didactic concept for Industry 4.0 technologies at an Innovation Day five years ago, there has been a very positive response to the opportunities this has created. The Werner-von-Siemens-Schule has received generous support from the school authorities, the Association of Sponsors of WvS2 e. V., from industry and from universities.

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Housing provided additional funding for the Learning Factory 4.0. "WvS2 and SEW-Eurodrive jointly developed a didactic concept for the use of this technology in vocational education and training and worked out an interdisciplinary teaching concept across occupational groups," reports Lukas Steibli. As part of this concept, learners are initially qualified by learning the basics of the individual modules. By linking these modules to form a networked plant system, the entire production process can be mapped in a practical way. "The interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary teaching of skills and specialist knowledge is the basic prerequisite for future-oriented jobs," emphasizes Steibli. The SEW employee praises the good cooperation with the vocational school in Mannheim: "Another goal of this cooperation is to realize state-wide teacher training and training seminars based on this didactic concept."

Gunthart Mau, SEW-Eurodrive