Digital Skills Needs in the European Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Rubber and Plastics Industry
Digital Skills Needs in the European Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Rubber, and Plastics Industry
Social Partner Initiative to prepare the Sector now and for the Future
A. Context and Motivations
The digital transformation is one of the main drivers of change in all sectors in the European Union and globally, and the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry are no exception. To the contrary, production processes and innovations in the sector change at a staggering pace, and there are clear signs that this speed accelerating even further.
The European the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry currently stays at the forefront of developing and integrating digital solutions and the use of artificial intelligence into its processes, and thus stays competitive in a global market. This is a clear benefit for the European Single Market, employment in the sector the European economy overall.
Hand in hand with the digital transformation, goes that the workforce in the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry needs to develop and be trained increasingly in digital and social skills. It is thus important for companies, workers, managers, vocational training institutions and universities to be prepared and to communicate and teach the specific digital skills that are needed.
As the recent study “Digital transformation on the workplace of the European Chemicals Sector”, as part of the EU-funded social partner project between the European Chemical Employers’ Group (ECEG) and industriAll European Trade Union has shown, the first wave of digitalisation, (i.e. digitising analogue data and integrating cloud solutions) is successfully accomplished in the European chemicals sector. Even though the implementation rate increases with the company size, where especially the implementation rate of digital solutions in micro and small enterprises (<50 employees) is lagging.
Given the extreme speed of the digital transformation, it has also become clear that the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry is not yet sufficiently prepared for the future development. The study also found that the second wave of the digital transformation, starting now and coming into full effect within the next five or so years, will be driven by the Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, automation and augmented reality.
Against this background, it has also been diagnosed that currently basic digital skills broadly exist in the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics sector. However, more advanced digital skills and transversal skills require the full and urgent attention by all stakeholders in the industry: employers, managers, trade unions, vocational training institutions and universities alike.
The project partners ECEG, FECCIA and Ledarna with the additional support of industriAll European Trade Union, representing the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry within the EU 27, have therefore initiated a new project to identify and anticipate the digital skills needed in the sector. The main objectives are
to find pragmatic solutions as to how to upskill the current workforce on all levels (workers and managers) now,
and to also look at vocational education and training (VET) and university curricula with regard to digital and social skills to make sure that young people who will train to work in the future in the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics sector possess the required necessary skills and qualifications.
B. Project objectives
The project comprises several objectives:
1. Identifying advanced and specific digital skills currently needed (i.e. “now”) on all levels of the workforce of the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry
Workers
Status quo analysis of specific digital skills needs relevant to specific job profiles in the industry and potential skills gaps
Analysis of how the role and perception of workers in general has changed through digital transformation
Managerial staff
Status quo analysis of specific digital skills needs for company employees in general and potential skills gaps
Status quo analysis of specific digital skills needs for managers and potential skills gaps, relating in particular to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR)
Analysis of how the role of a manager and management in general has changed through digital transformation
Employers
Status quo analysis of which specific digital skills current employees lack, both at workers’ and managers’ levels
Analysis of how the management of companies and enterprises and of the workforce has changed though digital transformation
2. Anticipating advanced and specific digital skills needed in the future on all levels of the workforce of the chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber, and plastics industry
Workers
Analysis of potential future digital skill sets and proficiencies
Development of measures to upskill current workforce
Development of social partner strategies of how to integrate them into current VET regimes, including an integrated concept of LLL on advanced digital skills sets
Managerial staff
Analysis of future digital skills needs for employees in general
Analysis of future digital skills needs for managers, relating in particular to AI, VR and AR
Development of measures to upskill current managerial staff
Development of social partner strategies of how to integrate them into current VET regimes
Anticipation of leadership in the future
Employers
Analysis of which specific and advanced digital skills are needed by employees in the future
Analysis of how the management of the company will adapt to digital transformation in the future
Development of social partner strategies of how to integrate them into current VET regimes
It is clear that many of the questions under 1. and 2. are interlinked, and while some are specific to the group, many will be the same/similar and have to be seen together.
3. Developing new/ amend existing skills profiles/job descriptions in the industry
The basis for this is laid in the systematic analyses under 1. and 2., and may thus easily follow from the results achieved there.
4. Devising general frameworks for upskilling trainings with concentration on digital skill sets
The objective here is to find pragmatic solutions in a relatively short time scale in order to upskill the current workforce (workers and managers) as quickly as possible to address possible skill shortages identified under 1.
5. Developing strategies for amending existing curricula of Universities and Vocational Training Institutions
The objective here is to find solutions for the future training and education of the workforce (workers and managers) in the sector to address the anticipated future digital skills required as identified under 2.
C. Implementation
In order to achieve the objectives formulated under B., the following actions are proposed to be implemented during the lifetime of the project.
i) Undertaking in-depth desk research to determine
the digital skills currently needed
the digital skills anticipated in the future
A number of interviews will complement this in-depth desk research with carefully selected members of each of the proposed groups with relevant knowledge and experience on the research topics, i.e.
Workers
Managers
Employers
in as many EU Member States as possible.
The Steering Group consisting of representatives from FECCIA, ECEG, and Ledarna determines the framework and contents of the in-depth desk research.
ii) Organising two European conferences
the first conference is intended to discuss the results of the desk research and to gather informed input for the thematic workshops (see below)
the second conference in intended to discuss and disseminate the results
iii) Organising five thematic workshops
These workshops, devised and set up by the Steering Group, are intended to support and inform the empiric study. The provisional thematic focal points of each workshop are:
- WS1: Preparation of methodology and content of the empiric study
- WS2: Focussing on digital skills of workers and their role in the future
- WS3: Focussing on digital skills of managers and their role in the future
- WS4: Focussing on employers
- WS5: Focussing on implementation of new curricula in VET Institutions and Universities. Given the differences between educational systems in different EU jurisdictions, this would be done by way a pilot project for 3 to 5 countries. The Steering Group would determine these countries.
In order to keep the workshops manageable and effective, it is intended to have between 10 to 15 participants.