Federal Chancellor inaugurates "Learning Factory Industry 4.0" at ABB in Berlin

ABB received a distinguished visitor in Berlin today. Olaf Scholz came. His speech can be read here. - I am irritated by a quote printed below, the press release, according to which the "reindustrialization of Europe" is expected. In Germany, at least, there has been no deindustrialization since the shift to the East, in my opinion. (By the way, there is an interesting documentary on Netflix: Chinese buy US industrial companies...) Anyway, the training center should be of the finest - also a sign of appreciation for the employees. It would be interesting to find out whether openings are also made by politicians in winter. Imagine Robert Habeck opening the center and then the power fails.

Olaf Scholz visits ABB training center in Berlin to mark start of training program

- The Chancellor, ABB Board Chairman Peter Voser and Sami Atiya, Head of ABB's Robotics & Manufacturing Automation business unit and member of the Group Executive Board, inaugurate the new extension building with its "Learning Factory Industry 4.0".

- 359 apprentices start training year 2022/2023 at ABB in Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today visited ABB's training center in Berlin for the start of the new training year and the ceremonial inauguration of the extension building. The Chancellor saw first-hand how ABB's "Learning Factory Industry 4.0" in this new multifunctional building is transforming education and training opportunities for technology companies - not only for ABB, but also for its partner companies. This training year, ABB's training center in Berlin is taking on 205 apprentices in 17 different trades, who are learning the skills they need to succeed in an Industrie 4.0 world.

During his visit, the Chancellor saw for himself ABB's strategy of regularly upgrading its two German training centers in Heidelberg and Berlin to ensure that each cohort of apprentices is supported with the latest technology and equipment.

"The ABB Training Center is a true flagship for our globally respected dual education system.The most important future investment of ABB and its partner companies is in the qualification of their skilled workers and thus in the future of their companies," said Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

ABB's "Learning Factory Industry 4.0" is the centerpiece of the new building, which uses state-of-the-art technical equipment to prepare trainees for the digital future of manufacturing.

"I expect Europe to reindustrialize, driven by two factors: the need for shorter, more resilient supply chains and the rapidly growing demand for so-called "mass customization", i.e. products that are perfectly tailored to the needs, tastes or lifestyles of each individual customer. This is only possible if we train the next generation of employees to become highly skilled professionals. It is this investment in training that enables us at ABB to be both innovative and profitable in Germany - today and in the future," said Peter Voser, Chairman of ABB's Board of Directors. "We have created a training center here in Berlin that prepares apprentices for the demands of tomorrow's industry. This benefits not only us at ABB, but also our partner companies. By working together, we remain competitive and make an important contribution to expanding the talent pool of the German workforce."

Peter Voser and Sami Atiya, head of ABB's Robotics & Manufacturing Automation business unit and a member of the Group Executive Board, gave Chancellor Olaf Scholz a tour of a learning factory modeled on highly automated industrial plants that gives learners a holistic understanding of digitally networked production processes. Under the guidance of their trainers, the apprentices produce a model of an ABB Formula E race car in the factory.

In addition, the chancellor was shown that young people learn at the plant how to monitor networked systems and rectify any faults that occur in the manufacturing process themselves. Overall, the learning factory makes it possible to integrate central topics such as digitization and Industry 4.0 into training in a practical way.

High investment volume was promoted

The investment volume for the multifunctional building was around 7 million euros. The extension building was funded by the state of Berlin with subsidies of around €6.2 million from the "Joint Task for the Improvement of Regional Economic Structures" (GRW). In the new training year, 359 talented people will start an apprenticeship or dual study program at ABB. Currently, 23 ABB apprenticeship positions are still unfilled. There are 205 starting in Berlin and 154 in the second training center, the ABB Training Center Heidelberg. All other new entrants are completing their training at other ABB locations. ABB is currently training 680 young people in the German capital across all training years. In Heidelberg, there are 421. 1,153 young people are currently undergoing training at ABB throughout Germany, 789 of them for around 250 partner companies as part of the joint training program.

(All photos ABB)

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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He consults around robotics. More about him can be found here.