DTAM: New European project to support digital transformation in advanced manufacturing systems

The Digital Transformation in Advanced Manufacturing Systems: An Integrated Training Program for EU Technicians to Implement and Manage Digital Tools in Smart Manufacturing or in short DTAM, is a three-year Skills Sector Alliances project targeting Vocational Education and Training (VET) of the EU Erasmus+ programme.

The DTAM project comes in response to the growing need for retraining and upskilling of technicians and students in the EU in order to improve their employability in an intensive, rapidly developing labor market such as advanced manufacturing systems. The project will address several other needs that have recently become even more apparent around the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. These include (1) technical and digital skills mismatches in labor supply and demand, (2) requirements for sectoral industrial workers, (3) lack of recognized VET programs on the subject and hands-on training through access to advanced Internet-type laboratories of Things (IoT) and learning through work practice and last but not least (4) the need for updated training for low or under-skilled older workers at risk of being replaced by technological advances.

That is why the DTAM project will create a new curriculum dedicated to the quality training of mid- and high-level technicians in the field of key technologies related to digital transformation in advanced manufacturing systems. The curriculum will help grow a workforce of technicians capable of understanding, installing, configuring, monitoring, analyzing, transferring data and maintaining digital systems in advanced manufacturing environments. In this way, a step will be taken towards bridging a critical skills gap related to Industry 4.0 in the EU, while paying attention to the regional needs of each of the participating countries.

The project will achieve these goals through the following key activities:

• DTAM learning methodology and training program. In this activity, the partners will aim to create a framework for the necessary skills in the field of digital transformation, a methodology and a training program including a guide for trainers.
  
• Preparation of DTAM Study materials. In this key project activity, the learning materials will be developed together with a dedicated online learning platform and a digital and transversal skills self-assessment tool. Possible training topics are: digital skills, industrial security, transversal competences, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.
  
• Creating a DTAM IoT hub. The idea behind this activity is based on the need to have a sustainable collaboration center for the various stakeholders, including students and teachers, entrepreneurs and professionals, developers of IoT products and services, buyers from private organizations or public administration as well as end users. Through the creation of the DTAM IoT collaboration hub, access to learning content and materials will be provided to all national and international stakeholders.
  
• Pilot testing. Prior to the official launch of the DTAM training course, pilot testing will be done to validate the training methodology, training framework and training content

The coordinator of the project is the Spanish training center POLITEKNIKA IKASTEGIA TXORIERRI S.COOP in partnership with 10 other organizations from 5 European countries, of which the Ruse Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a part.

We invite you to get involved in the DTAM project by subscribing to its official newsletter, through which you will be informed of all its activities. You can do this through the following link.

For more information about the project in Bulgarian, you can visit the official page of the chamber here.

You can also follow all the developments of the project on the official website of the project www.dtamproject.eu as well as on Facebook or Twitter. 

In case of additional interest in the project or questions related to it, you can contact Airi Memishev (amemishev@rcci.bg) or Irena Ivanova (ivanova@rcci.bg).