Metallurgy From an Industry 4.0 Standpoint

The second edition of the Metallurgy 4.0 Master course, promoted by AQM, ISFOR Fondazione AIB and RICONVERSIDER, will begin in Brescia on October 18th

by Nadia Zillo

In a continuously changing world, with a strong competition and pressure on margins, quality and updating of human capital are fundamental. For this reason, the second edition of the Metallurgy 4.0 Master course has been planned, starting in Brescia on October 19th, 2019, with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of companies, by forming high-potential personnel, including current and next-generation owners. This Master course satisfies the need for an Academy in the metallurgical domain, since it is impossible to find adequate teaching programs in the school and university worlds which, according to students who attended the first edition, over 30% of whom were engineers, the rest being technical school graduates, do not provide sufficient experience and application moments.
AQM, ISFOR Fondazione AIB and RICONVERSIDER, Federacciai’s training organism, therefore consolidated their alliance by offering their experience accrued in over thirty years dedicated to ongoing training for the improvement of products and processes and of the relative soft skills. The synergetic action taken by the three organisms gave rise to this higher education offering focused on Metallurgy and joined by a solid program concerning digital transformation for 4.0 manufacturing and on transversal knowledge required to tackle the continuous improvement and innovation processes in companies.

The successful first edition of the Master course
The first edition of the Master course, which began in January, 018 and which will come to a close at the end of 2019, has been supported by GEFRAN, SIAD, ASO SIDERURGICA and OFFICINE MECCANICHE REZZATESI. NDuring the first year, 312 hours of classes have been held, attended by over 20 students from the main companies based in Brescia and Lombardy (ALMAG, ASO Forge, ASO SIDERURGICA, BODYCOTE TRATTAMENTI TERMICI, DUFERDOFIN, FERALPI, ACCIAIERIE DI CALVISANO, METROCAST ITALIANA, ORI MARTIN, IRE OMBA, M.G.M, RODACCIAI, Industria Metallurgica Odobez), but also companies from Piedmont, Tuscany abd Veneto (KME BRASS ITALY, F.M.V. Trasmissioni Meccaniche, I.V.R. Soluzioni elettriche). It is worth noting that over 50% of students come from the quality area (Quality managers and Laboratory technicians), over 30% are Process owners (plant managers, production managers, process engineers, research and development department managers; the remaining 15% are high potential future managers. A confirmation of the efficacy of the first edition’s first year is provided by the high percentage of attendance by students (over 81%), the average satisfaction level recorded (over 4.2 out of 5) and the total success rate of the four intermediate exams (average grade: 8.4 out of 10). By the end of the Master course, after 5 more intermediate exams, the students will face the qualification exam for those who will have attended at least 80% of lessons and passed all the intermediate exams.
The qualification exam will involve the creation of a Project Work which will then be discussed during the final interview with the exam commission and scientific committee. Passing this exam will determine the qualification of Technologist in Metallurgy 4.0, certified by IIS Cert, the international body certifying the competence of personnel and AQM’s historical partner.
Tutors so far have been University lecturers coming from Italy’s main faculties, AMQ’s metallurgists and specialists, professional trade operators from the industry and experts of materials, production and machining processes, additive manufacturing and management of interpersonal, corporate, operative and digital competence. Alongside the theoretical lessons, operational demonstrations, experiences, concrete cases and corporate visits are also envisaged.
Paola Artioli, Vice President, AIB, confirms the validity of this Master course, “deriving from the partnership between companies, training organisms, institutions to train youngsters to prepare them for managerial roles within metallurgical companies”, while Marco Mariotti, Vice President, Apindustria, reminds us that the higher schooling Master course in metallurgy 4.0 is meant to help persons working in associated companies to improve their competence.
The opinions of some students were also interesting; they stated that the course met their expectations because topics dealt with were many, and tutors from the University and corporate worlds provided a tool mainly aided at companies willing to invest in digitization and therefore follow the guidelines of Industry 4.0”. The transversal nature of this Master course’s training content is also very interesting, as it proves to be “ a complete training, one of the keys to interpret the near future and one of the founding values for future competences”, as Gabriele Ceselin, CEO, AQM, stated.