In its recent Industry Insights Newsletter, EIT Manufacturing highlights how innovation and inclusivity can, and should, go hand in hand. With its focus on providing long-term sustainable upskilling mechanisms for workers / learners, including those with disabilities and those from disadvantaged social groups, this is certainly something the WELDNET project can identify with!
Across the European Union, unemployment rates for those aged between 15 and 64 are almost doubled for those with severe disabilities. But the EU also faces workforce shortages in sectors, such as material joining, in which technology is increasingly able to offer solutions.
The EIT Manufacturing newsletter showcases three projects in particular which aim to bring such technologies onto the shop floor of factories around Europe. These include the development of exo-skeletons in the NEXUS project, that can help workers with physical difficulties perform tasks safely. Augmented reality (AR) systems are being developed by the SpeakAR project to translate spoken language into sign language, text instructions, or visual cues for deaf workers. Whilst the Optiplant4All project offers a predictive maintenance platform with an AI assistant that can provide access to advanced data analytics with features designed for workers with cognitive disabilities. For example, when equipment is predicted to fail – high-pressure moments that demand an immediate response – the system can provide step-by-step verbal guidance rather than complex data dashboards.
Each of these show how designing for inclusion can help manufacturers build operations that are more resilient, more innovative, and richer in talent and diversity. From our side, the WELDNET project will include specially adapted micro-courses aimed at learners in Circular Material Welding and Predictive Maintenance who would otherwise experience difficulties accessing the workforce. We will also develop guidelines for training centres to ensure they achieve the highest possible standards in support and integration of workers / learners with disabilities and from disadvantaged social groups.Stay tuned to the WELDNET project and follow us on social media for all the latest developments!
