An essential backbone of manufacturing SMEs is the production staff, who master applications safely and possess the necessary experience. These employees are pivotal to the company's innovation and competitiveness. To keep pace with the diverse changes and transformation processes in the competitive environment and to fully exploit the company's innovative potential, it is important to promote and continuously develop the skills of production employees. This can be implemented in a focused manner using strategic competency management.
New challenges – new skill requirements
The working world is undergoing major upheavals – many jobs in production are becoming increasingly technologized and influenced by AI. New production processes and technologies are being introduced, and organizational structures are changing. As a result, employees today are required to have more technical skills than in the past. The manufacturing sector requires even more highly qualified personnel. Robotics, digitalization, AI: industrial processes are becoming more complex, people, machines, and processes are increasingly digitally networked, and different skills are needed today and in the future to produce with these systems and ensure stable processes. In addition to an increasing number of regular mandatory training sessions regarding processes, occupational safety, or new guidelines such as data protection, new knowledge in handling digital tools, software, and data analysis is important. The success of the company also depends on how the employees' skills develop in line with new challenges.
Through further education and qualification, employees can be specifically developed from one position to another to meet new skill requirements and adapt to changes in the working world through re- and upskilling. But which new skills are specifically needed in which positions in your own company today and in the future? Professional competency management identifies the strengths of employees and promotes them in a targeted manner. Strategic competency management in production is about developing employees' skills so that they are empowered to apply their abilities and knowledge appropriately to their tasks in the work environment and to solve problems.
Re- and upskilling of industrial employees
Certain industries, such as mechanical engineering or the automotive sector, are particularly affected by the transformation. To secure long-term competitiveness, the first step is to define the company's competency requirements and needs – today and in the future. The next step is to check which skills employees already possess and where gaps exist or may arise. Competency profiles are derived from the employees' current tasks and the projected changes in their areas of activity and responsibility. For example, if an automotive manufacturer switches its production from combustion engines to electric cars, new competency profiles are required for production staff, such as knowledge of battery systems, electric drives, and control electronics; they must also understand the different types of batteries, know their charging and discharging behavior, and be aware of safety aspects and maintenance requirements. In this example, these are just a few of many competency requirements that must be considered in competency management.
Challenges in competency management
In production, training employees and implementing competency management is a very special challenge because the necessary infrastructure is often lacking. Production employees often do not have end devices or email addresses, and digital skills must first be built up. Here, kiosk PCs or shared tablets can be used to set up a good infrastructure for competency management.
Another point that should be considered: humans are known to be "creatures of habit." As in other industries, planned changes in production, for example in work processes, often meet with resistance from employees. To promote the adaptability, acceptance, and proactivity of employees and to successfully implement competency management, company management plays a central role. Leadership style and corporate culture set the course for a positive attitude of employees toward change. To avoid overwhelming staff, it is essential that tasks are tailored to the skills and strengths of the employee and the new job roles – job sharing can also be a sensible solution in some areas. The right tools for implementing competency management are also very important for conveying individually appropriate and motivating learning content and consistently achieving the set goals.
What are the necessary competency profiles of the future?
Competency management should be oriented toward the needs of the employees on the one hand and the company's goals on the other. Competency management in production is about identifying, documenting, and managing the skills, qualifications, and experience of employees in industrial trades and production.
- Identifying skills: Many medium-sized manufacturing companies have no transparency regarding which competencies they currently have on board. For this purpose, an inventory analysis is created. Interviews, tests, or observations provide a good overview of the employees' skills and personal experience.
- Creating competency profiles: The results of the inventory and all relevant information such as certificates, training, or skills are bundled into individual competency profiles and documented in digital databases.
- Needs analysis: What is the company's need for skills and qualifications today and in the future? What gaps exist – in which areas should targeted training and further education be offered?
- Personnel planning: Based on the competency profiles, it becomes transparent which employees are suitable for which projects and tasks, and the deployment and development of employees are planned accordingly.
- Development paths: Through professional competency management, careers can be planned transparently and competencies developed in a targeted manner. Development paths show employees how they can further develop within the company, what additional skills they need for which individual goals, or which skills can be deepened further.
Professional competency management is an important tool for companies in industrial and production-oriented sectors to motivate their employees to continue their education, to manage work resources effectively, and to develop them in a targeted manner. THE MAK'ED TEAM has many years of experience in developing competency management systems that are individually adapted to the requirements of our clients. We develop solutions for medium-sized manufacturing companies so that competencies in production are developed effectively and in a focused manner. Whether it is a lack of infrastructure or shift work: in the manufacturing sector, there are many factors that must be taken into account, and implementation looks different for every company. Knowledge and skills are imparted analogously or digitally, in training sessions, courses, and workshops. Effective competency management helps to increase the company's performance and competitiveness, retain employees, and minimize risks. To achieve this, we support every company with individual solutions that are precisely tailored to the respective requirements in competency management.
You can find more about competency management as well as checklists and case studies on the topic here.
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