Status quo Chemical Industry: Skilled Production Work between Tradition and Digital Innovation

Abstract

In the context of digitalization, industrial skilled labor is subject to dynamic change, with areas of activity and work requirements changing continuously. This situation is particularly acute in the chemical industry: Due to permanently advancing technological development processes, the industry is characterized by a very high degree of automation and - also with a view to the introduction of intelligent and networked systems - is already considered to be highly digitized. Future qualification requirements are currently largely undetermined, which presents the industry with the problem of dealing with major uncertainties in the context of shaping digital change. Based on selected results of the research project "Lernort Betrieb 4.0", it will be shown in the following that skilled production work in the chemical industry is in an ongoing field of tension between tradition and digital innovation. Based on the research results, implications for linking work and learning in the digital transformation of production work are derived and connection perspectives for technology didactics are addressed.