Technological development in automotive outpaces the current capacities of the education system

The automotive and engineering industry has long been a pillar of the Slovak economy. Today, however, it faces a combination of challenges unlike any seen before – demographic pressure (an ageing workforce), technological transformation (the rise of automation and digitalisation), environmental requirements (pressure for decarbonisation) and changes in competencies (changing demands on employees' skills).

Companies in the sector increasingly encounter:

• a shortage of qualified technical workers,
• a generational change for which they are not prepared,
• rapid technological shift that outpaces the education system,
• growing demands for flexibility, adaptability and lifelong learning.

The Sector Council for the Automotive and Engineering Industry has therefore prepared a human resources development strategy that responds to the new demographic, technological and environmental conditions as well as conditions in the area of changing competencies.

What does the strategy bring?

• Aligning employers' needs  with the education system, so that graduates enter practice with relevant skills,
• systematic support for retraining and the development of employees' competencies in response to the automation and digitalisation of production,
• managed work with age diversity, including the effective transfer of know-how between generations,
• development of technical, digital and soft skills essential for a modern production environment,
• emphasis on workforce adaptability under conditions of rapid technological change.

As the strategy points out: The decisive constraint on the sector's further development is not technology, but the ability of workers to work with it and turn it into value. Value is created only in the hands of prepared workers.

SOURCE: APZD