Development of a Training Program on Advanced ICT Tools for enhancing Manufacturing Process Planning competences in Plastic Industries SMEs Erasmus Project

Project Title

Development of a Training Program on Advanced ICT Tools for enhancing Manufacturing Process Planning competences in Plastic Industries SMEs

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Open and distance learning; Research and innovation

Project Summary

The motivation of the project is the confirmation that ICT is an important factor to maintain competitiveness, since not only do they facilitate the design and development of new efficient products, but they also provide intelligence to the production plant. The contribution of ICT Its objective is to improve the efficiency, adaptability and sustainability of manufacturing systems, as well as its better integration in business processes in an increasingly globalized industrial context. SME technicians in the plastic sector involved in manufacturing management have a lot of experience, acquired over the years, and they know how to deal with the problems they usually face. However, they are not sufficiently familiar with the application of advanced ICT tools to their work, within the new paradigm of manufacturing model, which results in a reduction of the competitiveness of their companies. Technicians must be trained in Digital skills. and high-level ICT in order to apply them to new manufacturing models and to increase the overall efficiency of the industry, as well as its own performance.
Fundamental objectives:
• Improve the digital and ICT skills of SME Technicians in the plastic sector.
• Promote learning based on work, with a training methodology based on “learning-doing” focused on the application of concepts and tools to real cases of each company.
The participating entities were: 4 associations of the plastics industry, Valencian Association of Plastics Businessmen AVEP (Spain), Consorzio per la Promozione della Cultura Plastica PROPLAST (Italy), Associação Pool-Net – Portuguese Tooling & Plastic Network Pool-Net (Portugal), Gospodarsko Interesno Zdruzenje Grozd Plasttehnika PCS (Slovenia) and 2 universities, Universitat Politècnica de València – Center for Research in Management and Production Engineering CIGIP-UPV (Spain), Université de Bordeaux UB (France).
The training elements have been classified in 6 Modules:
• M1: Demand forecast. Predicting the future demand of the company’s products.
• M2: Aggregate Production Planning. Decide the levels of production capacity in a long-term planning horizon.
• M3: Master Production Planning. Decide the amount of products to be produced in each period with a mid-term planning horizon.
• M4: Sequencing of Production Operations. Decide the order in which different products will be manufactured and assembled in a short-term planning horizon.
• M5: Procurement Planning. Determination of the acquisition of raw materials in a medium and short term horizon.
• M6: Distribution Planning. Establishing the delivery of goods and services to meet customer demand, including order management and transportation management.
A total of 60 multimedia training elements were developed (videos with animation / narration) in English, of which 20 were translated into the different languages ​​of the consortium associations (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Slovenian). The translated training elements have been the corresponding to the introduction, basic concepts and tools in each Module.
Five ICT tools were selected for practical training: E-forcst (M1), WinQSB (M2), LEKIN (M4), Frepple (M3 and 5) and ODL Studio (M6). For each tool and Module a guide has been developed. practice of use, with data from a case study.
An e-Training platform was created using Moodle, one of the most widely used Learning Content Management (LCMS) in the world. In the e-Training platform, 1 course was created for each of the project languages ​​(including English) ), composed of the 6 Modules, which contain the multimedia training elements, the guides to use the tools, questionnaires, forums and wikis.
The Validation Pilot Actions were programmed in batches of 2 weeks for each Module. In the first week the session 1 was developed, consisting of 4 hours of self-learning by the students, using the multimedia training elements and 1 hour of webinar with the teacher; and the session 2 in which the students attended a practical 3h classroom day in which the teacher trained them in the use of the tool. In the second week, the self-learning of the use of the tools for the resolution of a problem was developed. with data from the companies themselves during 4h; and session 3 was a 3h face-to-face practical day in which the teacher solved the doubts that had arisen in the resolution of the real case and closed the Module with the lessons learned. The students who validated the pilot actions were:
• Spain: 52
• Italy: 62
• Portugal: 54
• Slovenia: 59
• France: 14

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 198465 Eur

Project Coordinator

ASOCIACION VALENCIANA DE EMPRESARIOS DE PLASTICOS – AVEP & Country: ES

Project Partners

• GOSPODARSKO INTERESNO ZDRUZENJE GROZD PLASTTEHNIKA – GIZ GROZD PLASTTEHNIKA
• UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX
• ASSOCIACAO POOL-NET PORTUGUESE TOOLING PLASTICS NETWORK
• CONSORZIO PER LA PROMOZIONE DELLA CULTURA PLASTICA PROPLAST
• UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA