Festo Partners with NIMS

In light of the significant trend in the digitalization of manufacturing through technology advancements such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), training in these skills is vitally needed now. The National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS; Fairfax, VA), in partnership with Festo Didactic Inc. (Eatontown, NJ), will establish industry-recognized skills standards and ultimately credentials for jobs related to Industry 4.0. With NIMS emphasis on manufacturing skills training, credentialing, and standards, plus Festo’s complete Industry 4.0 learning Factories, courseware and eLearning integration, the two organizations are well poised to provide the training programs for Industry 4.0.

“This is an exciting development for manufacturers and educators that directly addresses both the data-driven revolution happening in manufacturing today and the skills gap,” said Montez King, the executive director of NIMS. “There are so many interdependent functions and abilities surrounding Industry 4.0 that this effort will help to bring clarity to the proficiencies required, train people extremely well, and validate their expertise.”

The emergence of Industry 4.0 is new territory for most in manufacturing. As such, among the first tasks to be accomplished is to conduct research to discover and verify exactly what those competencies must be. Then the training protocols and credentials will be created. “We are hopeful to have the standards identified and the training program in place by the end of 2019,” added King.

“As the production line becomes ‘smarter’ – collecting data to change processes and create efficiencies – workers and students will be expected to adapt in the same way,” noted Thomas Lichtenberger, the chief executive officer of Festo. “Bringing NIMS, us and other industry partners together, we look forward to a collaboration that leads to world class industry standards and learning systems programs.”

During the development of the new Industry 4.0 skills standards, NIMS will ascertain the credentials in their existing programs that support the various Industry 4.0 functions and target new credentials for development. The training outcome is to provide employees in or entering a manufacturing workplace with an understanding of Industry 4.0 concepts and impart certifiable skills as companies increasingly adopt automation and data gathering and management functions in their manufacturing operations.

www.nims-skills.org