"The machine tool industry is doing brilliantly at the moment," says Peter Bole, Head of the Young Talent Foundation for Mechanical Engineering, Bielefeld, which is organizing the special stand and inviting students, teachers and trainers to Metav. "In order to be able to deliver the many orders, companies have to mobilize all their capacities," says Bole. However, according to the Federal Employment Agency, in certain professions such as mechatronics engineers or IT specialists, the number of vacancies is sometimes only matched by half or fewer skilled workers looking for work. This affects the machine tool industry, its customers and its suppliers in equal measure. The chances of finding an exciting, challenging and well-paid job in metalworking have never been so good.

The Young Talent Foundation for Mechanical Engineering aims to counteract the shortage of skilled workers by demonstrating the attractiveness of vocational training in the metalworking professions to young people.

13 companies and institutions will be presenting a career in mechanical engineering in Hall 17, Stand A89 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Center. "The concept of the Special Show for Young People is to get everyone on board," explains Bole, "We have to get young people interested in training. But then they have to be taught the latest training content in the best possible way," he demands. Today, this still includes basic knowledge in metalworking, but also knowledge of CAD/CAM technology, digital manufacturing processes, networking technologies and software programming in the context of Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 also for trainers

Teachers and trainers also need to master Industry 4.0. The German government's high-tech strategy, in particular the future-oriented Industry 4.0 project, aims to network industrial processes more closely with modern IT technologies. With the maxim Intelligence in production, mechanical engineering is pursuing strategies for IT-networked production, self-organizing, intelligent components and machines for production. Future developments will essentially consist of the self-controlling interaction of machines and workpieces, which will become so-called cyber-physical systems. Ideally, a workpiece will then find its own machine and be processed at the best and most efficient time. For this to work, the entire production and logistics system is modeled virtually and merged with the real system.

Mobile learning in smart factories

"The success of Industry 4.0. also needs people. In this context, they must be able to keep pace with developments and meet the new requirements," says Bole. "To do this, we need teachers and trainers who are up to date with current developments." The Young Talent Foundation for Mechanical Engineering is working intensively on support for further training in this field.