Dive Brief:
- Mercedes-Benz will invest more than $2.2 billion by 2030 to train employees as data and artificial intelligence specialists, the company said last week.
- The Turn2Learn initiative’s two pilot programs are training over 600 employees in production, production-related and administrative roles in digitalization and AI. The automaker will award certificates to the initiative’s first graduates this week.
- Mercedes-Benz said upgrading employees’ digital skills is crucial to the company’s future as the automotive industry becomes increasingly digital and more reliant on AI.
Dive Insight:
Reskilling and upskilling existing employees is crucial in ensuring the automotive industry has the workers it needs to build electric vehicles and modernize manufacturing.
"Electrification, digitalisation and rapid developments in artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the working environment,” said Jörg Burzer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, production & supply chain management, in a statement. “That goes for production, too. Which is why we urgently need more data specialists who are familiar with the production environment and furthermore have a strong grasp of digital tools and their interfaces.”
The automaker also said it’s expanding its Turn2Learn initiative due to “strong employee interest.” Hundreds of production workers recently applied for 22 openings in Mercedes-Benz’s data specialist training program at its plant in Untertürkheim, Germany. The company plans to expand the program “in the coming months,” the press release says.
Employees can earn qualifications in data science, cloud solutions architecture, hybrid working, sustainability and other emerging areas.
Other automakers, including Ford Motor Co., are beginning to upskill and reskill existing employees to meet the growing demand for tech-savvy workers, which are in particularly short supply thanks to a tight labor market and a global shortage of qualified individuals.
