The EU MachinE Tool Alliance for Skills (METALS) project has concluded with the launch of a free online course on the fundamentals of additive manufacturing (AM).
The course includes 27 learning units covering both technical and soft skills along three main areas; knowledge on AM, work-process and entrepreneurship.
Coordinated by CECIMO, the European association representing the Machine Tool and Additive Manufacturing industry, the three-year METALS project was established with project partners across Germany, Italy and Spain to increase the competitiveness of the European machine tool industry by providing the sector with the skills needed to benefit from new disruptive technologies. Following surveys, workshops and interviews with machine tool experts from all over Europe, the partners identified AM as a key area for training.
The online AM learning course, which is available in English, German, Italian and Spanish, intends to support AM workforce development. The course includes a series of learning units covering 3D printing, design principles for AM, post processing operations and more along with short test sections.
Visit the TCT AM & 3D Printing Education Guide
“Training and education are important elements for the industrialisation of additive technologies in Europe, which is the objective of CECIMO," says Mr. Filip Geerts, CECIMO’s Director General. "With METALS, learners will be able to access relevant online knowledge at no cost and start building their competences to interact with AM. Coupled with on-hands training, which remains essential, initiatives like METALS are useful to increase the overall awareness of what AM concretely is and entails."
METALS has also developed a paper to raise policymakers’ awareness about the importance of AM skills, calling on Vocational Education and Training (VET) regulatory bodies across Europe to shape robust training programmes for AM-skilled workers, and for relevant national accreditation agencies to give priority to AM skills. The paper also calls for promoting VET and to increase funding for VET institutes for the purchase of AM equipment.
