Experience Smart Learning with us

The transition to electromobility confronts the manufacturing industry with great challenges in terms of employee training and continuing education. As part of the project European Learning Lab Battery Cells ELLB of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB we are currently developing a production-related smart learning system directly at the production lines in Münster. This involves developing software that supports employees in their day-to-day work as they undergo learning processes. Meanwhile, the Smart Learning System is addressing the following questions: How can companies efficiently train a large number of new employees along the production lines of the emerging battery cell gigafactories? How can we ensure that expert knowledge is not just in the heads of a few people, but is transparently available for everyone?

While many traditional eLearning approaches focus on managing the learning process in organizations and learning is "stock", our project focuses on finding the optimal moment for learning. The optimal moment is the one in which learners can connect the offered material with the very practical situation they are individually in at the moment.

Our goal is to build up and expand the competence of current and future battery experts with a production-related smart learning system. The ramp-up of many new gigafactories in Europe poses a huge challenge to the industry: many new employees have to be trained quickly and comprehensively, regardless of their previous experience and skills. With a production-related smart learning system, we are creating an efficient solution for training many employees, especially new ones.

First and foremost, we focus on the training FFB employees at the production lines. Our task is to create an infrastructure that efficiently supports a core process of the FFB: The production of new knowledge!

To this end, we plan to equip all employees with a "companion" that will support the production of knowledge in everyday manufacturing. We have a tablet with an app tailored to this task in mind. The Companion not only "knows" the person's level of knowledge, but also recognizes the specific situation he or she is currently in. Which machine is currently in use, what is the operating status of the machine, are there any special incidents that the person needs new information to deal with? All this and other information from the environment is relevant in order to serve the right content "on the tablet" in that situation.

At the moment we find ourselves in the design phase, where the first ideas are coordinated and tested in the form of concept studies (proof of concept). At the same time, we are getting to know the other project groups and are able to discuss the best ways to implement the system with them.

An important part of the design phase is the development of ideas on how we can enable employees to become active knowledge producers themselves. That is why we are increasingly working with prototypes and mockups, which are then discussed with the professionals at the FFB. After all, the most appealing system is of no use if it is not accepted by our users later on.

The smart learning system is a project in the field of human-machine interaction, which means that a number of challenges have to be managed. In the end, we have to design the system in such a way that the new technology is accepted by the users and we can implement it successfully.

As a "transparent factory", the FFB allows us to have a look behind the scenes and experience battery cell production at first hand. Thus, the FFB with its upscaling from "FFB Workspace" to "FFB PreFab" and "FFBFab" offers an ideal test environment. Currently, the FFB is still under construction itself and therefore provides a suitable test environment for our smart learning system. The initial training of new employees as well as the further training of employees on site in Münster plays an elementary role.

In this project, the Fraunhofer Academy is among other partners working together with equeo GmbH from Berlin. Equeo's philosophy is based on many years of experience with the use of digital training tools in everyday operations. 

For more information about Smart Learning, read this blog article by the authors Franziska Purr (Fraunhofer Academy), Gregor Engelmeier and Thomas Flum (Equeo GmbH).