Thailand's electroplating industry cannot find enough qualified employees. This was demonstrated by the collaboration between Fraunhofer IPA and the Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute (MMRI) at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The "Schoolplate" project aims to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers.
The chrome-plated trim on your car, the galvanized screws in your hobby cellar or the nickel-plated components of the hard drive in your laptop: we encounter electroplating technology all the time in our everyday lives. Companies in this sector are often an indispensable part of international supply chains. The Fraunhofer IPA and the MMRI are jointly driving forward research and development in the field of electroplating technology in order to take better account of this global importance in future.
To this end, the scientists involved, together with the newly founded industry association "Thailand Electroplating Professional Network" (TEPNET), conducted a survey and various workshops to get to the bottom of the industry's problems. Vocational (training) education was also discussed. The Thai side reported a lack of specialist knowledge in their workforce and too few and poorly equipped training facilities.
Dual training in Thailand
In Thailand, vocational schools, known as technical and vocational colleges, are an integral part of the education system. Qualifications are possible via a purely school-based route, dual training and various short programs.
"However, cooperation with companies from the electroplating industry is not as well established in dual training as it is here in Germany, for example," says Dominique-Navina Pantke from the Electroplating Technology department at Fraunhofer IPA. This explains the shortage of skilled workers, at least at first glance. In addition, university degrees are generally held in higher esteem in Thailand than vocational training, which is why many young people do not take this path in the first place.
In order to alleviate the shortage of skilled workers, the scientists at Fraunhofer IPA have launched the project "Vocational Training and Qualification Measures for Electroplating in Thailand" (Schoolplate). Under the leadership of the Stuttgart research institute, the team, which also includes colleagues from the MMRI and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Bonn, is working on a sustainable concept.
First project phase determines demand for skilled workers
The Schoolplate project is divided into several phases. In the current exploratory phase, the initial aim is to determine by the end of the year how many companies in which regions need how many employees and what level of knowledge they ideally need to bring with them or catch up on when they start at a relevant company. Due to the current travel restrictions, this will mainly have to be done using an online questionnaire. The team intends to carry out the necessary validation through on-site visits at a later date.
In a planned second project phase, the researchers then want to develop and test specific options for training design.
Further information on the Schoolplate project can be found here: https://s.fhg.de/5yt
