Training for welding supervisors in Poland
SLV Halle • Employee qualification promotes competitive capability of businesses
With its nearly 100 employees, SLV Halle GmbH is a business integrated in the DVS – Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e. V. (German Welding and Associated Processes Association). It works in the fields of vocational training and continuing education, materials engineering, materials testing, quality assurance in welding-related production, in corrosion control as well as in research, development and technology transfer.
SLV Halle moreover co-operates with the GSI – Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik International mbH (Society for International Welding Technology). The GSI was established in 1999. It is a syndicate of very efficient research and education institutions in the field of welding technology with more than 80 years of experience in joining technology and test engineering. The purpose of the GSI is to provide vocational education and training as well as advice in the field of welding technology and to transfer the corresponding technology both on a national and international level. The GSI is active in over 50 countries. Of its more than 450 members of staff, more than 300 are engineers and technicians.
The GSI supports its customers through vocational training and continuing education programmes during the career entry phase and in the further development of their career. Each year, the GSI carries out more than 20,000 training courses and examinations in the field of welding. In addition, it conducts 1,500 training programmes for welding supervisors and 6,000 continuing education programmes for executives. Moreover, the GSI issues 2,500 operating licences and certificates as well as 600 materials and damage assessments per year. It also pursues approximately 20 research and development projects.
All training events are carried out under due observation of the German national technical regulations and the standards and guidelines as issued by the DVS (Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren – German Welding and Associated Processes Association), by the EWF (European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting) and by the IIW (International Institute for Welding).
SLV Halle has already maintained international contacts, in particular to Eastern European partners, in its former role as the GDR's Central Institute for Welding Technology. As of 1990, the organisation further expanded its range of activities. The co-operation with the GSI, a long-standing networking partner of iMOVE, has yielded business contacts in partnership with the GSI's foreign branch associations, for example, in Poland, the Czech Republic, the Baltic States, China, Turkey and Egypt. Since 2010, SLV Halle has been working intensively on establishing co-operation agreements with partners in Asia. The target markets include Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.
Based on a co-operation agreement with GSI SLV Polska, SLV Halle has lent its support in a continuing education programme for welding supervisors in Poland, who work in the field of rail vehicle construction. More and more Polish producers of rail vehicles require employees with verifiable knowledge of the current DIN standards in order to become or remain internationally competitive.
The pilot course with 27 participants took place in Katowice over a period of four days in late 2013. Integrated into the training programme was a visit to Alstom Konstal in Chorzów, one of the most modern production sites for rail vehicles in Europe.
The training course content included the general technology directives, construction requirements, legal principles and testing methods. Accredited welding engineers and welding technicians were given the opportunity to sit for an exam so as to gain official recognition of the newly acquired additional qualification. In future, due to the high demand, the plan is to offer the continuing education seminar once or twice per year.
Information
This sucess story was first published in the iMOVE publication Developing Skills for Employability with German Partners • 8 Success Stories from Central and Eastern European Countries and the CIS. The brochure was published in 2014.
