Competence Requirements in Manufacturing Companies in the Context of Lean 4.0

Traditional production systems today are often based on Lean Production. With the advent of Industry 4.0, new digital and networked solutions are emerging that offer new opportunities and challenges combined with Lean Management principles and methods. The successful implementation of Lean Management requires that the employees in the production environment have internalized the associated philosophy, integrated the methods into their daily work, and implemented the necessary competencies into their processes. The different emerging technologies through Industry 4.0 lead to new changes for both the company and the employees. In order to master the challenges of this comprehensive industrial change and to remain competitive on the global market, timely training and further education of production employees are indispensable. The employees contribute significantly to the success of a company and the implementation of Lean 4.0. The prerequisite for sufficient qualification of employees is identifying relevant competencies. This scientific contribution aims to present a structured and comprehensive approach to develop a Lean 4.0 competence model for manufacturing companies that depicts the requirements for employee competencies due to Lean 4.0 elements and job profiles. The focus will be on assembly and manufacturing areas as well as the production-related areas maintenance and internal logistics.