A new training centre, located in the Continental manufacturing facility based in Petaling Jaya in Malaysia, has been launched through an initiative piloted by Continental Malaysia and supported by Siemens Malaysia. The two companies aim to further develop the country’s human capital and boost its adoption of digitalisation and Industrie 4.0 technologies, especially in the manufacturing and tyre industries.
The Control & Drives Training Centre is first of its kind training facility launched by Continental Malaysia. It will provide local trainees and its employees the necessary knowledge required to operate state of the art industry automation and drives solutions needed for advanced digitalised manufacturing.
Trainees will be instructed in applications such as next-level automation, predictive maintenance and remote monitoring, digitalisation. Possessing capabilities in these areas will help manufacturers improve their product quality, productivity, flexibility, efficiency, throughput time and time-to-market.
At the training centre, employees will learn to use the latest manufacturing solutions, provided by Siemens Process Industries and Drives division. Examples of the solutions they will be exposed to include the likes of Siemens Industrial PC Management and SIMATIC S7, which enables individuals to configure and program automated tasks within their manufacturing facilities
Leveraging these technologies, Continental Malaysia will be able to exert higher levels of control over the quality and consistency of products manufactured, ensuring customers get top notch quality products.
Continental Malaysia expects the first batch of trainees to be fully trained by the end of 2017. The centre is intended to serve as a training facility for operators of other selected companies.
“Through this close collaboration between Siemens and Continental Malaysia, the centre is expected to plug a critical capability gap in the local Malaysian market. During our conversations with customers in Malaysia, we find that while they are keen to digitalize their factories to remain competitive, many feel that they lack the skills and expertise to implement new Industrie 4.0 technologies required to augment manufacturing,” said Adam Yee, Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Factory and Process Industries and Drives Division, Siemens Malaysia.
In the latest edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Malaysia was ranked among the top 20 most competitive economies in the world. However, its weakest sector remained to be technological readiness.
With the growing demand for tyres both locally and in the region, Continental Malaysia aims to ensure staff will be having the relevant skills required to bolster production of quality products to meet rising demand.
Looking to overcome the present fierce competition for top talent, Continental Malaysia is exploring new ways of integrating employees with potential skills. The key to this is the “best fit” approach – which, for instance, takes into consideration aspects above and beyond formal qualifications. It aims to answer the question, “how can we find suitable jobs for applicants – rather than the other way round.”
Utilising the training centre, Continental Malaysia creates a pathway in enhancing the knowledge of employees on control and drives systems to further support operations of the plant.
“We regard it as our task to provide a proper training facility and hope to inspire other manufacturers in Malaysia to also actively invest in their staff as Malaysia embraces digitalisation and Industrie 4.0,” said Gerhard Janotta, Plant Manager, Continental Tyre PJ Malaysia.
“As a world leader in automation and Industrie 4.0, Siemens is able to assist customers such as Continental Malaysia with state-of-the-art training and facilities to enable their transformation into a digital manufacturer… I am confident that through this collaboration we will be able to make a significant contribution to Malaysia’s readiness for Industrie 4.0,” said Prakash Chandran, President & CEO, Siemens Malaysia.
The collaboration is one of Siemens’ many initiatives to support the Malaysian government’s aim to create a highly-skilled workforce by 2020, Chandran added, citing their Siemens Mechatronics Systems Certification Program (SMSCP) and Siemens Industry Training (SITRAIN) program as other examples.