Composite materials are modern materials made out of glass fibres, carbon fibres and other constituents. Composites are the material of the future. Composite parts are all around us, from carbon fibre sports accessories (skies, helmets, bicycles) and their numerous applications in cars, aircraft, marine industry, robots, bathtubs, and so forward. They solve problems, raise performance levels and enable the development of new innovations in markets such as transportation, construction, corrosion-resistance, marine, infrastructure, consumer products, electrics, aerospace, appliances, and business equipment. Due to their specific properties, the composite materials can be more durable, lighter or less expensive when compared to traditional materials. Therefore, it is generally predicted that composites will quickly become more important than metal. The future of the global composites market is bright. The expected growth of 5,1% over the period 2017-2022 has been already exceeded. Although it is one of the few industries still valuing manual labour, the composite industry is characterised by a high added value.
However, as with many other industries, the composite manufacturing sector companies suffer from the lack of qualified personnel and fluctuation of the workforce. To cope with that issue, many companies are providing in-house training for employees. They are investing sufficient resources in raising the qualification of their companies' managerial and production staff.
To address all these challenges, project CompoWin is aimed to help maintain and increase the competitiveness of EU manual labour. This is done by supporting the composite industry by producing a holistic, usable and attractive training system for future composite fabricators. It will assist, VET teachers/trainers of general technical knowledge to develop the necessary skills and methodologies to rapidly convert into teaching basic composite techniques. In addition, the newly developed content could be easily adapted and customised for the need of in-house training in composite companies or for reskilling current employees to work with composite materials and techniques. The second equally important result will be the ability to introduce this training system very rapidly into organisations with no previous experiences with composites. Such an organisation would need a list of the basic material conditions before attempting a composite training course. This list will serve as a basic reference for an initial go/no-go decision by the educational organisation manager whether to adopt the training or not.
The present Comparative Report is one of the milestones of the CompoWin project as it aims to deliver a more comprehensive background information on the current state of development of the composite industry in participating countries and existing challenges that the sector is facing (i.e. lack of qualified personal, limited R&D, lack of VET programmes, etc.). The second part of the research process aimed to draw a more comprehensive overview of the composite manufacturing industry, considering current employment trends and future technological development prospects. As a result, project partners produced a Catalogue of Opportunities and Barriers to Employment (COBE) and the Potential Technologies Focus Catalogue (PTFC). The research and analytical activities were implemented by a consortium of project partners of five European countries, i.e. Bulgaria (Business Information and Consulting Center – Sandanski), Croatia (3D Grupa Cluster), Estonia (Kuressaare Ametikool), Germany (SBG) and Slovenia (RRA and AFormX).
However, as with many other industries, the composite manufacturing sector companies suffer from the lack of qualified personnel and fluctuation of the workforce. To cope with that issue, many companies are providing in-house training for employees. They are investing sufficient resources in raising the qualification of their companies' managerial and production staff.
To address all these challenges, project CompoWin is aimed to help maintain and increase the competitiveness of EU manual labour. This is done by supporting the composite industry by producing a holistic, usable and attractive training system for future composite fabricators. It will assist, VET teachers/trainers of general technical knowledge to develop the necessary skills and methodologies to rapidly convert into teaching basic composite techniques. In addition, the newly developed content could be easily adapted and customised for the need of in-house training in composite companies or for reskilling current employees to work with composite materials and techniques. The second equally important result will be the ability to introduce this training system very rapidly into organisations with no previous experiences with composites. Such an organisation would need a list of the basic material conditions before attempting a composite training course. This list will serve as a basic reference for an initial go/no-go decision by the educational organisation manager whether to adopt the training or not.
The present Comparative Report is one of the milestones of the CompoWin project as it aims to deliver a more comprehensive background information on the current state of development of the composite industry in participating countries and existing challenges that the sector is facing (i.e. lack of qualified personal, limited R&D, lack of VET programmes, etc.). The second part of the research process aimed to draw a more comprehensive overview of the composite manufacturing industry, considering current employment trends and future technological development prospects. As a result, project partners produced a Catalogue of Opportunities and Barriers to Employment (COBE) and the Potential Technologies Focus Catalogue (PTFC). The research and analytical activities were implemented by a consortium of project partners of five European countries, i.e. Bulgaria (Business Information and Consulting Center – Sandanski), Croatia (3D Grupa Cluster), Estonia (Kuressaare Ametikool), Germany (SBG) and Slovenia (RRA and AFormX).
