June 2019

The complexity and exigence of the aerospace industry make it a perfect target for the Industry 4.0 technologies. The digitalization and interconnection of the means involved in manufacture and production makes a fattest, safest and cheapest way of production possible.

Companies are taking the chance to tighten global supply chains, drawing suppliers into the network and using new technologies to link them through a wide range of data-processing based technologies. Products based upon data and data-analytics are been used to explore new business models inside the industry than can improve revenues and ways of production.

The framework for the digital transformation of the aerospace industry stretches from cloud computing and mobile technology; to the use of augmented reality, big data analytics, smart sensors, location detection technologies and advanced human/machine interface. All of them, technologies based upon the principles of the Industry 4.0 revolution.

The nature of these new technologies will place higher demands on all members of the workforce in terms of managing complexity, abstraction thinking and problem-solving. Employees will have to act more independently and possess better communication skills and ways of organizing their own work. The soft skills, those related to the human character and interpersonal relationships, will have a more prominent role inside the aeronautical production chain.

Soft skills, such as initiative, critical thinking or intellectual curiosity, will require from an adequate training and supervision that will ensure that every piece involved in the production chain know how to use and apply those soft skills. Thus, new personal competences and qualifications will be needed.

In order to solve this educational problem, new training modules focused on soft skills and social competencies will be required. The lack of these preparation may lead to fatal human errors and financial losses that can be avoidable.

In Sky4.0 we recognise as basilar stones, 7 key softs skills:

-Cognitive Flexibility
-Intellectual Curiosity
-Analytical Thinking
-Critical Thinking
-Change Adaptability
-Initiative
-Effective Communication in Digital Environment

The new Industrial revolution is now the reality in all sectors of the European Industry (Industry 4.0). This revolution is more visible in lead sectors as the Aerospace sector which is now implementing the most advanced technological systems developed to answer the new industry challenges. Therefore, there is the need to develop a number of skills in the workers from the Aeronautic sector, namely in Maintenance and Manufacturing. These skills are actually not technical, but soft skills instead. The ability to make the best decision in a mind-balanced state could be the difference between an uneventful operation and human errors that may lead to fatal consequences. Thus, the importance of workers’ soft skills to keep up with the technology development remains a challenge.

The present project aim is to build curricula and training modules around soft skills required by Industry 4.0 implementation, namely Social competence and Personal Development skills. To do that, Sky 4.0 project will focus on three main strategic priorities:

1. Development and improvement of relevant and high quality skills and competences by supporting the different project target groups in acquiring and developing KEY SOFT SKILLS, in order to foster employability, socio-educational and professional development. These key target groups are:a) Aeronautical companies and their workers; b) Trainers and VET providers; c) Young students of secondary and technical schools in the aeronautical sector; d) Human resource and team managers in aeronautical companies.
2. Implementing innovative practices and developing partnerships aimed at promoting work-based learning in all its forms, within the project new training materials will be elaborated, both for current and future aviation sector workers, including Joint VET qualifications. The idea is to apply knowledge in practical training materials, based on real life and workplace situations, and embedding international experience (mobility).
3. Further strengthen key competences in VET, including common methodologies for introducing those competences in curricula, as well as for acquiring, delivering and assessing the learning outcomes of those curricula.

In these ways, companies will be able to build a strong and effective skill-set through personal development and character-building skills, and these will contribute to make relevant and positive choices and decisions and to have not only the best technicians but also level-headedness and wholeheartedness workers.
At last, the improvement of employees’ skills in the Aeronautical Industry, will contribute to develop human resources well prepared to respond the Industry 4.0 challenges.