2021/10/12
ID: 3875

Ready for the Professional World

German Championships in Mechatronics and Industry 4.0

For the first time, apprentices in the job profiles of Mechatronics and Industry 4.0 met for the German Championships of WorldSkills Germany. These took place at the Festo Lernzentrum Saar in St. Ingbert at the beginning of October. The respective winning teams will represent Germany at the upcoming vocational championships WorldSkills 2022 and EuroSkills 2023.

Digitalisation and Industry 4.0 require both sound fundamental knowledge and modernized focal points in dual vocational training. These were implemented at the German Championships on the Modular Production System (MPS) and the CP Lab Industry 4.0, the specially developed cyber-physical learning system by Festo Didactic.

State-of-the-art Learning Systems as a Basis

The learning solutions Modular Production System (MPS) and Cyber-physical Lab Industry 4.0 each model the stations of a real production plant. Therefore, they are used by educational institutions and industrial companies to teach a wide range of technologies: from the assembly of mechanical, electrical, and pneumatic components and commissioning of the system to plant networking, programming of PLCs, sensor systems, safety technology and analysis and optimization of the value chain. In addition to plant programming, learning contents such as energy efficiency or data management also play a role. "In contrast to what people often think, an apprenticeship is an adequate alternative to a university degree! We show how demanding, versatile and future-oriented technical apprenticeships are - especially in the context of Industry 4.0," explains Klaus Herrmann, Head of Research and Vocational Education as well as Vice President of the Festo Learning Centre Saar.

Team Spirit is essential

Both competitions had to be mastered as a team. Each team consisted of two apprentices. In the skill "Mechatronics", a total of seven teams from the companies Rogers Germany, SICK, Festo, TTS Tooltechnik Systems, Hahn Automation as well as the Bildungs-Werkstatt Chemnitz and tesa Werk Offenburg showed their talent. In the skill "Industry 4.0", a total of three teams from the companies Rogers Germany, Festo and SICK competed against each other.

The winners in the Industry 4.0 competition were Johannes Albrecht and Felix Willi from SICK AG in first place, Moritz Roth and Niklas Meiser from Festo SE & Co. KG as second, and in third place Valentin Mauser and Moritz Schelzke from Rogers Germany GmbH. The mechatronics competition was dominated by the team of Jonas Fuhrich and Felix Thaller from Rogers Germany GmbH, followed by Timo Oßwald and Daniel Schmid from Festo SE & Co. KG, and third place went to Hannes Kölblin and Sebastian von Braunbehrens from SICK AG.

Festo Certified Center of Vocational Excellence

The best teams of the German Championships will continue their training in the newly founded Festo Certified Center of Vocational Excellence Mechatronics at the Festo Vocational Education in Esslingen and the Festo Certified Center of Vocational Excellence Industry 4.0 at the Festo Vocational Education in St. Ingbert. The best teams will represent Germany at the WorldSkills vocational championships in October 2022 in Shanghai, China, and at the European vocational championships EuroSkills 2023 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Just as there are Olympic training centers in top-class sports, these Certified Center of Vocational Excellence were set up at Festo in cooperation with WorldSkills Germany, the German umbrella organization for the WorldSkills.

The basis for the mechatronics competitions and the dual vocational education is the Modular Production Systems (MPS) of Festo Didactic. The mechatronics competitions of the WorldSkills championships have been held on these since the WorldSkills in 1991. "This way, we not only pass on our technical education know-how to our own apprentices, but also to apprentices of other companies who will make up the national mechatronics team at the next WorldSkills Shanghai in 2022," says Stefan Dietl, Head of Vocational Education at Festo.

Festo è un attore globale e un'azienda indipendente a conduzione familiare con sede a Esslingen am Neckar, in Germania. Fin dagli inizi Festo ha stabilito degli standard nella tecnologia dell'automazione industriale e nella formazione tecnica, contribuendo così allo sviluppo sostenibile dell'ambiente, dell'economia e della società. Prodotti e servizi sono disponibili in 176 paesi del mondo. L'azienda, infatti, fornisce tecnologia di automazione pneumatica ed elettrica a 300.000 clienti di automazione di fabbrica e di processo in oltre 35 industrie. Il settore LifeTech con la tecnologia medica e l'automazione di laboratorio sta diventando sempre più importante. Con circa 20.800 dipendenti in oltre 250 filiali in circa 60 paesi in tutto il mondo, Festo ha realizzato un fatturato di circa 3,81 miliardi di euro nel 2022. Ogni anno circa il 7% di questo fatturato viene investito in ricerca e sviluppo, mentre l'1,5 % del fatturato è investito nella formazione di base e di perfezionamento. Festo Didactic SE è un fornitore leader di formazione e formazione tecnica e offre ai suoi clienti in tutto il mondo soluzioni complete di apprendimento digitale e fisico in ambiente industriale.

© WorldSkills
German Championships
Skill Competition Manager Michael Linn, Festo Didactic, explaining the course of the competition to the Minister of Economic Affairs of the Saarland, Ms Anke Rehlinger.
© WorldSkills
2nd place for Festo apprentices
Moritz Roth and Niklas Meiser, apprentices at Festo in St. Ingbert, achieved 2nd place in the skill Industry 4.0.
© WorldSkills
WorldSkills rely on learning solutions from Festo Didactic
The Festo Didactic learning solution Modular Production System (MPS) has been used in the most modern version at WorldSkills competitions for 30 years.

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