Development and testing of the INNOMET system for adding innovation capacity of labour force and entrepreneurs in the sector o

Abstract

The primary objective of this INNOMET project and the INNOMET tool as such is to increase the responsiveness of education institutions to business demands a= nd to improve the access of vocational and higher educated specialists into la= bour market. For that purpose it is proposed to introduce an integrated virtual database system for educational and industrial needs in the sector, which includes the database comprising of existing educational opportunities, e.g. different levels of study programmes, as well as mapping of the industrial needs for human resources based on the employee qualification standards. Elaborated INNOMET database serves as a dynamic and constantly up-dated stu= dy on human resources in the sector. Companies will be motivated to renew information in certain periods, as INNOMET tool can be effectively used for companies’ own human resources evaluation and development. The system can also be made use of= in the development of trans-national skills’ passports in Europe.

Keywords:<= i> human resource management, advisory system, database

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1.&n= bsp; INTRODUCTIO= N

Productivity= , i.e. obtained output from current input (e.g. amount of manufactured production = per month, monthly turnover per employee) has become one of the most important markers of competitive ability. Productivity depends upon rational and effective use of existing resources (equipment, staff, technologies, facilities, communication systems, knowledge).

The term ‘enterprise’ can be defined as an organisational structure, whe= re on the basis of existing resources transformation process is conducted. Dur= ing this process raw products are changed on the acceptable quality level into final goods and services. Hereby, subdivisions belonging into the organisational structure play a decisive role in this transformation proces= s. One can say that every business unit must know its operational tasks and intrin= sic activity or inactivity should not obstruct other functional units of enterp= rise in performing their specified tasks accurately and conscientiously. From aforementioned postulates comes out also leading, responsible and executive role of a human being.

In Estonian metalworking and machinery the main weaknesses of the sector are lack of hi= ghly qualified workers, low co-operation between companies, and absence of clear national and international cooperation networks. Although the sector has la= ck of qualified labour force, Estonia has too high rate of unemployed people (12 %), so improvement of existing educational system as well as re-training and improved qualification award system and cooperation is needed. Only after mapping the current situation = in an enterprise and answering to the question “What we have?” is possible to move on to the key question of next stage “What we want to know?”, turning to the training programmes mapped by educational inst= itutions.

Enterprises and trade uni= ons are interested in certain vocational standards and specifying skills level = of employees. Academic world and vocational education providers cannot react to these changes correspondingly without knowing the real needs of industry wo= rld. Hence the gap between the needs and reality of labour force structure and quality exists. By stimulating contacts and cooperation between the differe= nt factors both in business and educational systems, synergies can be successf= ully achieved to realise the abovementioned main criteria.

INNOMET is an acronym for= a project which aims is to develop an innovative database model for adding innovation capacity of labour force and entrepreneurs of the metal engineer= ing, machinery and apparatus sector. Project is funded by the European Commission Leonardo da Vinci II programme during the period of 2003-2004. <= /span>

This project focuses on a= new monitoring tool ensuring qualified labour force for enterprises in the machinery, metal engineering and apparatus sector in terms of local and European needs.

The primary objective of = this INNOMET project and the INNOMET tool as such is to increase the responsiven= ess of education institutions to business demands and to improve the access of vocational and higher educated specialists into labour market. For that pur= pose it is proposed to introduce an integrated virtual database system for educational and industrial needs in the sector, which includes links to existing educational opportunities, e.g. different levels of study programm= es, as well as private sector qualified labour force and mapping of the industr= ial needs for human resources.

The main objective of the INNOMET system therefore is to supply enterprises and educational instituti= ons with the updated information related to the needs, structure and qualificat= ion as well as about the opportunities of finding/ requesting needed courses. <= o:p>

An important step towards= this goal is to define and understand the needs for the manufacturing industry f= or training and education in manufacturing education on global. Regularly upda= ted data by enterprises and educational institutions will contribute to the development of a time based information system as supporting environment by everyday business planning concerning human resources. This will also give companies the opportunity and benefit to upgrade employees within the latest courses of manufacturing and management based on global industry needs and = with the state of the art of educational methodologies. As a reward the educatio= nal organisations will have a possibility to predict future needs by using information feeds from variety of enterprises (Innomet Marketing Report, 20= 04).

At the macro level, the improvement of the human resource will result in national gain, and at the micro level businesses and enterprises will benefit from better trained workforce and knowledge transferral (Peacock 2002).

When in INNOMET project h= as been raised a problem, created a concept and proposed a solution based on t= he elaborated software for human resources development, then in current paper = aims representing main aspects for human resources development in enterprises.

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2. ASPECTS OF HUMAN RESO= URCES DEVELOPMENT

Productivity is developme= nt basis of human resources in enterprise. In equal conditions (product, machi= ne tool, operating environment) one manufacturer ca= n be three times more productive than another. Why it is so? What could be the reason?

The answer of this questi= on lies hidden in employee’s existing:

-      =    knowledge;

-      =    skills;

-      =    experience;

-      =    personal qualities;

-      =    motivation<= span lang=3DEN-GB style=3D'font-size:9.0pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB'> factors.

Development, monitoring a= nd making consequences of aforementioned criteria are the main merits of human resources development in enterprise (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Development of hum= an resources in enterprise

Qualification standards a= re the basis for evaluation of labour force qualification (in terms of resources).= Application of social resource is shown on Fig. 2. The qualification standard stands he= re as the criterion of skills, knowledge and personal qualities of social (hum= an) resources.

Fig. 2 General evaluation= of human resources in enterprise

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On the assumption of particularity of every organisation or enterprise the core component for hu= man resources development (see Fig. 1, Fig. 3) is the skills card. <= /span>

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2A. OPERATOR

Specification: machine tool operator

Competence/ Skills=

VT

(0-5)=

PT

(0-5)=

2.1 General skills

2A.1.1 General skills of profession

5

4

2A.1.2 Management and economy

4

3

………………………= 230;.

2A.2 Basic skills

2A.2.1 Knowledge of specific materials

5

4

2A.2.2 Skills of reading technical drawings

4

3

………………………= 230;.

….

….

2A.3. Extra skills

2A.3.1 Selection of working tools

4

4

2A.3.2 Knowledge of manufacturing technologies

4

4

………………………= 230;.

…..

….

2A.4 Personal qualit= ies

2A.4.1 Sense of duty

5

4

2A.4.2 Precision and punctuality

5

3

………………………= 230;.

…..

…..

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Fig. 3 Skills card

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Skills/knowledge to be evaluated are grouped according to professional standards. A professional standard is a paper, defining requirements due to professional qualification for knowledge, skills, experience, values and personal qualities. Professional standard acts as:

-      =    specification of labour force qualification requirements;

-   &nb= sp;    basis of elaboration curricula and educational programmes for educational organisations;

-   &nb= sp;    basis for elaboration vocational exams as well as<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> certification and evaluation of professional qualification;

-   &nb= sp;    means for creatin= g basis for comparison of international qualification certificates.

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In practice prescription = of professional requirements is substantial. Professional requirements are div= ided into four groups beginning with more general skills and ending with specific personal qualities essential for working at the profession. General princip= les of professional requirements are as follows (see Fig. 3):=

-&nb= sp;        general skills – requirements originating fr= om economic affairs for general skills and knowledge;

-&nb= sp;        basic skills – special professional requirem= ents for skills and knowledge;

-&nb= sp;        extra skills - special professional requirements f= or skills and knowledge, characterised in narrow specialisation and/or necessi= ty for executing additional assignments at current position;=

-&nb= sp;        personal qualities &= #8211;expected personal identities and abilities required by current profession.

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Definition of specific skills/knowledge depends on field of activity of enterprise. The definition= process should be started in every particular case from job descriptions of a curre= nt enterprise.

Evaluation of skills/know= ledge is the next step towards human resources development in enterprise. For assessment a scale of grades [0…5] is used. The lowest grade is “1” and highest “5”. Grade “0” is used = in case when the corresponding skill is not relevant. Both required (VT) and existing (P= T) level has to be evaluated. Analysis can be performed in term of vocations as shown on Fig. 4.

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Fig. 4 INNOMET process

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INNOMET will play signifi= cant role in the framework of engineering education management process. How the situation in the environment of the engineering activities (business proces= s, supply of skilled employees, engineering education) looks like?<= /span>

Companies try to find ski= lled employees to fulfil their strategy. From the other side the study programmes reflect the competency of particular educational institution. Hence there a= re missing coherent activities between industry and academic world. Real situa= tion should be as follows.

In companies one should d= o all defined by the list of skills related to particular job on the needed qualification level.

In educational institutio= ns student after passing the course „should knowR= 20; the subject (passive skills) and „should do“ related to = the subject (active skills).

Sum of active skills of t= he programme should match to the lowest set of skills by the related qualifica= tion standard.

So, the corrected educati= on concept as competency based education is introduced (Papstel, 2004). <= /o:p>

=

3. conclusions and further activities

The current solution is focused on the sector of metalworking, machinery and apparatus engineering. It is capable for monito= ring quality and quantity of human resources in every participating organisation= of the network.

The described methodology of human resources development has been tested properly in five organisations. The enterprises where testing was performed have been various by their type: machinery, too= ls engineering, metal engineering and road engineering. The fifth organisation= was Tallinn University of Technology.

Testing results turned to be successful and elaborated system has proved its place as a carrier of competence developme= nt.

4.      =    REFERENCES

INNOMET Marketing Report (2004) – www.emliit.ee/innomet/

Papstel J.,(2004), Perspectives of the Third Le= vel Education in Manufacturing Engineering, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of DAAAM Estonia, INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - INNOVATION AS COMPETI= TIVE EDGE FOR SME, Editors

J.Papstel/B.Katalinic, 29-30 April 2004, Tallinn Estonia, ISBN: 9985-894-59-6.

Peacock, N., Ladkin, A. (2002), ‘Exploring relationships between higher education and industry’, Industry and Higher Education, Vol 16, No 6, pp 393-401.

Acknowledgement:= The current research was supported by Estonian Science Foundation Grant no 5363 and EU project INNOMET=

4^th International DAAAM Conference
"INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING – INNOVATION AS COMPETITIVE EDGE FOR SME"
29 - 30th April 2004, Tallinn, Estonia

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POSSIBILITIES of the INNOMET system for HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT = IN ENTERPRISES

J.Riives*, J. Papstel, T.Otto

2A. OPERATOR	Specification: machine tool operator
Competence/ Skills=	VT (0-5)=	PT (0-5)=
2.1 General skills
2A.1.1 General skills of profession	5	4
2A.1.2 Management and economy	4	3
………………………= 230;.
2A.2 Basic skills
2A.2.1 Knowledge of specific materials	5	4
2A.2.2 Skills of reading technical drawings	4	3
………………………= 230;.	….	….
2A.3. Extra skills
2A.3.1 Selection of working tools	4	4
2A.3.2 Knowledge of manufacturing technologies	4	4
………………………= 230;.	…..	….
2A.4 Personal qualit= ies
2A.4.1 Sense of duty	5	4
2A.4.2 Precision and punctuality	5	3
………………………= 230;.	…..	…..

4th International DAAAM Conference "INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING – INNOVATION AS COMPETITIVE EDGE FOR SME" 29 - 30th April 2004, Tallinn, Estonia

<= /span>

POSSIBILITIES of the INNOMET system for HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT = IN ENTERPRISES

J.Riives*, J. Papstel**, T.Otto**

4^th International DAAAM Conference
"INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING – INNOVATION AS COMPETITIVE EDGE FOR SME"
29 - 30th April 2004, Tallinn, Estonia

J.Riives*, J. Papstel, T.Otto