Digitalization and Industry 4.0 Concern Everyone
Digitalization is everywhere: the achievements of the fourth industrial revolution have long since found their way into the everyday lives of almost everyone: Whether it's the smartwatch that tracks our movements, assistance systems in the car that keep us on track or trigger an emergency call, the smart home that can control air conditioning and lighting, or artificial intelligence that assists in formulating an email. In many companies, Industry 4.0 has ushered in nothing less than a new era: the workpiece that seeks its own path through a production line has long since become more than a bold vision from a science fiction movie. Completely digital production is already gradually becoming a reality in innovative companies. Industry 4.0 is therefore a topic that concerns everyone.
Networked IT world
Networking, data, data exchange: everyone is affected by the digital transformation - whether at home or at work. Back in the 1990s, I began to systematize the data and information flows in the production hall in a paperless way. Together with my team, I developed the foundations for digital production and won the first Industry 4.0 Award with the resulting assistance system. I want to turn people from being affected by the fourth industrial revolution into shapers of it. In companies today, employees with different professions, different qualifications and activities often come together for meetings. Higher-qualified employees or managers often use foreign words that not everyone understands.
For this reason, an Industry 4.0 lexicon has been developed. The online collection explains almost 200 terms from A for adaptive production to W for wearables. I want to train as many employees as possible in the basics of these future terms so that everyone can join in the discussion and contribute ideas.
Online training
Together with Eckert Schools Digital, the digital subsidiary of Eckert Schools, southern Germany's leading private further education company, a special offer has been developed: a special online training course as an entry ticket to the world of Industry 4.0. The web-based training course is entitled "Johann Hofmann explains: Industry 4.0 the easy way".
The Eckert Schools Digital product provides a comprehensive insight into this multifaceted new world. The new self-study modules are a resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the world of smart production and stay up to date.
The training series explains the main concepts of digitalization step by step in a specially designed framework: the first web-based training course names and structures eleven main concepts. In addition to data governance and digital value, mobile computing, interdisciplinarity, visualization, robotics, big data, Internet of Things, smart world and autonomy are also part of this training. Quizzes and interactive elements break up the learning process and provide feedback on learning progress. Upon successful completion, participants receive a certificate from Eckert Schools Digital.
Change and respect
Above all, we want to reduce uncertainty and allay fears about the big concept of Industry 4.0. In companies, digital changes often lead to employees having great respect for them, and this often results in the typical "ostrich tactics". At a time when the half-life of professional skills is getting shorter and shorter, companies, especially their specialists and managers, need innovative and high-quality knowledge updates that expand and deepen skills quickly, easily and in a tailored manner.
Digital transformation
With this new offering, we want to give as many people as possible the chance to keep their finger on the pulse or plan their next career move. Digitalization is here to stay - whether with the advancing development of artificial intelligence, even greater automation or cyber-physical systems, i.e. computers that control something in the physical world.
