Training the engineers of today and tomorrow

Citation

(2009), "Training the engineers of today and tomorrow", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 81 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2009.12781eab.019

Training the engineers of today and tomorrow

Article Type: University and research news From: Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal, Volume 81, Issue 5

To retain its world position in the development and production of best-in-class tooling solutions, Walter AG has recently made a multi-million investment in the Walter Academy – a major initiative that, it says, will enhance the tooling giant's unswerving quest to become the employer of choice in Germany's metalworking sector (Figure 10).

Figure 10 The Walter Academy – a multi-million euro investment at Tübingen

Based at the company's Tübingen headquarters in Germany the academy is, said Chairman Peter Witteczek, unparalleled in terms of the way in which the industry approaches human resources development.

It is also, “Engineering Apprentice” a manufacturing engineering skills centre that has introduced, at one end of the scale, a practice based “lean” 2 years “apprenticeship” for machine operators and, at the other, a three-year Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree covering business management issues.

The success of the Walter Academy – this year there are 30 students compared with the intake of 20 trainees in 2007 – is built around six pillars of learning:

1. 1.

   training centre;

2. 2.

   trainee programme;

3. 3.

   further training;

4. 4.

   technology centre;

5. 5.

   organisational development; and

6. 6.

   corporate university.

The aim, added Mr Witteczek when he officially opened the academy last autumn, “[…] is for Walter to provide employees with world-class facilities and education routes which, in turn, will ensure a continual supply of appropriately-trained employees across all company departments”.

He continued: “We are creating the framework for targeted human resources and organisational development, to meet both the changing requirements (technological) of the working world together with our socio-political responsibilities as a company, as well as the challenges being presented by the demographic changes taking place.”

In addition to the all-round design, production, sales and administration skills constantly demanded at Tübingen, where a main focus is the development and production of tooling (standard and special-purpose) for the comprehensive Walter, Titex and Prototyp tooling ranges, the company's complementary production facility at nearby Münsingen is also capable of producing multi-millions of inserts each year.

Together, the operations effectively offer customers an unrivalled single-source of market-leading tooling, including indexable cutting tools for turning, milling, drilling, boring and reaming, as well as solid carbide and high-speed drills, taps and end mills.

All operations therefore need an inexhaustible supply of well-trained and highly skilled employees – with around 3,700 employees globally in 50 subsidiaries and sales partner operations throughout the world, Walter's skills needs know no boundaries, and the academy is one way in which the company can ensure its future, further growth.

With its different learning “arms”, the academy is designed to meet the individual demands for all different groups of employees. At its heart is a new training centre at Tübingen, where several million euros have been invested in facilities and equipment for producing “21st century technologists”.

Equipped with the latest machining centres and, for example, systems for simulated application-specific software, the curriculum is structured so that training becomes the students' own responsibility, while the “trainer” takes a back seat and assumes the role of a “mediator of knowledge”. Topics available include machine operation, surface coatings, instrumentation, control engineering, process control and laboratory techniques – the basis for managing highly complex processes in the company's ever-improving chemical/mechanical manufacturing environment.

Apprenticeships are currently available for industrial mechanics, surface coating specialists and machine/system operators and, in conjunction with Reutlingen University, mechanical engineering.

Figure 11 Peter Boesl, Walter AG's director of human resources

The newly introduced two-year lean apprenticeship which, says Walter AG's director of human resources, Peter Boesl (Figure 11), complements the traditional (and still applicable) three- and five-year apprenticeships. Apprentices receive, for example, systematic preparation and project work that is directly related to their specialised fields of operation (Figure 12).

Figure 12 The Walter Academy curriculum includes a fast-track 2-year apprenticeship

“The lean apprenticeship is our response to technology trends; it is practice-based and designed to meet the requirements of modern production equipment and manufacturing operations,” he says. “Successful students will as a result be able to react with flexibility to the increasing levels of automation applied in production.”

There is room for 80 students in total – formal apprenticeships, as governed by the local chamber of commerce and students in cooperation with the University of Cooperative Education. In addition, Walter also offers university-based courses, such as the masters degree currently being studied by manufacturing team leader, 29-year old Jens Deininger.

Herr Deininger not only ensures that the production of indexable inserts at Münsingen runs as a highly automated and reliable process, but also being responsible for a team of 12, he is also heavily involved on a daily basis in decisions based around economic and personnel issues, as well as various assignments that require business management tools.

So, he says, he needed no prompting to study for an MBA; he attends weekend lectures (alternative weeks) at the Reutlingen University's European School of Business, and studies at home in his own time. “There's a lot of study, but it will certainly be worth it,” he declares.

Further training is another aspect of the Academy, to present a range of seminars and courses offered in areas such as managerial skills, marketing, foreign languages and project management.

In addition, the academy offers specialised skills sets/company departments a range of guidance and support – training and workshops, for instance, in change management.

Walter AG has a long history of investment in facilities, machines, equipment and personnel skill sets to retain its leading position in the global tooling industry – for example, the carbide insert manufacturing site opened at Münsingen in 2007 cost €30 million – and the Walter Academy is the latest evidence of how the tooling giant is determined to maintain that status.