Siemens supported the WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig

By Siemens

More than 1,000 young skilled workers from 53 countries/regions competed in the 42nd WorldSkills Competition (WSC) which was held at the Leipzig Exhibition Grounds from 2-7 July in a compelling competition for the coveted title of best in the world. The broad spectrum of 46 professional and vocational professions ranged from trades and services to industrial and technical professions. The participants, who were up to 22 years of age, had to complete numerous challenging tasks quickly and convincingly. As a Global Industry Partner of WorldSkills International, Siemens equipped several disciplines with the latest industrial products from the world of automation and drive technology.

“We wanted to make education fun and at the same time provide a forum for exchanging experiences with this educational event, which is the largest of its kind in the world. Our goals are to increase the quality of professional vocational training and to heighten awareness of its importance in global competition,” says Simon Bartley, president of the nonprofit WorldSkills International (WSI) organization.

Siemens provides automation products and expertise

Contestants for the title were first required to prove themselves against a large number of other applicants in regional and national competitions in their respective countries. The Competitors of Industrial Control tackled their task, the installation and startup of a rolling mill, using automation and drive equipment made available by Siemens. The gold medal in Industrial Control went to Filip Eng from Sweden, Kazuki Yuno from Japan won silver, and Caique Faria from Brazil took home the bronze medal.

Contestants usually receive intensive training from a WorldSkills Expert in their country/region. Training can begin as soon as the task is known. “And then it’s training, training and more training,” explains André Röthin from Switzerland, Chief Expert of Industrial Control. He is also part of the team that defines the task.

“The task was extremely challenging this year. Contestants had to manage a task that usually takes twice as long in only 22 hours. But all of them did well.”

In addition to the Industrial Control discipline, Siemens also provided the fields of Electronics and Polymechanics/Automation at WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 with state-of-the-art industrial products from its range of automation and drive technology. For the disciplines CNC Turning, CNC Milling, Manufacturing Team Challenge and the featured profession Plastic Die Engineering, the company also provided the CNC control systems in cooperation with the venue naming right partner DMG/Mori Seiki. The Columbian candidate in the CNC Turning category was thus faced with a DMG turning machine equipped with SINUMERIK for the first time in his life.

“But it wasn’t so difficult”, explained Julian Arango to us. “SINUMERIK is not only impressive with respect to its functionality and performance, it is also very easy and intuitive to operate. I got along just fine”.

Siemens has been a Global Industry Partner of WorldSkills International since 2010, along with companies such as Samsung, Würth and Festo, which, according to Simon Bartley,

“with their world-class competencies make an important contribution to always keeping WorldSkills in touch with the requirements of the future job market.”

As part of its "Siemens Automation Cooperates with Education" (SCE) program, Siemens is supporting WSI in the field of industrial automation, in particular. Under the motto “Discover your Skills and Opportunities together with Siemens”, Siemens presented training concepts in Germany as well as opportunities for Dual Study, a combination of academic study and vocational training, at its own stand to the approximately 200,000 visitors. Students were able to find out first-hand about Siemens’ commitment to professional training and were able to experience the industrial products in practical live models.

According to SCE project head, Roland Scheuerer from the Siemens Industry Automation Division, Siemens commitment contributes to enhancing the quality of vocational training in sectors such as manufacturing and engineering technology on the industrial level.

“Education is our future. That's why we support the best technical talent with our first-class equipment, including training and technical support in the preparatory phase.”

Website: siemens.com/worldskills