Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design TechnologyDigitalization is transforming occupational fields and production requirements. In the KIRA Pro project, artificial intelligence is being created to help industrial companies prepare their employees in a tailored fashion for the networked production of the future.
KIRA Pro – AI connects education offerings into continuing qualification paths
With the approaching wave of automation resulting from Industry 4.0, requirements for the skills and capabilities of employees in production-related areas are undergoing a major transformation. This poses major challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular. They rarely have sufficient capacity to systematically manage competence development and continuing education strategies. Often, the company also has not yet developed a mature strategic orientation with regard to digital transformation. This makes it difficult to evaluate and weigh up the specific areas in which expertise needs to be built up and expanded in the medium term.
KIRA Pro's partners have set themselves the goal of developing and providing AI solutions suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises for the planning and implementation of agile continuing education concepts.
Evolving job profiles with artificial intelligence
A successful digitalization strategy involves training employees for new duties in a digital, networked production system. In the project »KIRA Pro – AI-based role navigator and automated learning path determination for continuing vocational training in the manufacturing sector« artificial intelligence is being created that will help industrial companies prepare their employees in a tailored fashion for the challenges of networked production.
The AI-based role navigator to be developed should make it possible to select branch-specific continuing education offerings in a manner appropriate to the individual employee in order to be able to develop and pursue customized learning paths. The AI solution thus helps those interested in continuing education to gain an overview of the enormous variety and heterogeneity of continuing education offerings and to identify professionally relevant offerings that build on one another. Such matching between corporate goals, existing competencies, and available further training opportunities makes it easier to navigate the vocational training market and eliminates the need for users to develop manual search strategies.
The algorithm that emerges in KIRA Pro will take into account preferences and the learning strategies of trainees when selecting offerings. For example, training courses, coaching, e-learning, or practical units can be regarded. The project thus also takes into consideration the trend toward smaller learning units and new learning formats. Continuing education offerings sourced from various renowned learning partners are fed into the system. One future goal is a user-friendly integration of 3000 professions and 12,000 skills of the European ESCO framework into the software.
Agile development and testing
Development and testing will be undertaken in a systematic approach, characterized by short cycles of research, development and testing. Following dedicated development steps, the AI-based role navigator will be tested in SMEs and experiences from testing will be incorporated into future development.
The project brings together a consortium of R&D partners, training providers and SMEs with transformational ambitions. Peers Solutions GmbH combines HR expertise and further education with AI experience in the manufacturing sector. Harms & Wende GmbH & Co. KG and Feinblechtechnik GmbH possess innovative strength and years of experience in mechanical engineering. Collaboration with providers of vocational training platforms aims to enable the industrial partners to develop operational transformation and expertise development strategies together with Fraunhofer IPK and to implement them in the real world. Transfer to a wider community will be promoted via associated partner networks.
The partners
- Fraunhofer IPK: Consortium management
- Peers Solutions GmbH: R&D partner
- FBT Feinblechtechnik GmbH: SME application partner
- Harms und Wende GmbH & Co. KG: SME application partner
- Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA, Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau): Associated partner
- Steinbeis Europa Zentrum: Initiative Fit 4 Factory of the Future (Fit4FoF): Associated partner
- Haufe Akademie: Associated partner
- Gesellschaft für Wissensmanagement e.V.: Associated partner