Turkey: Practical training in welding of plastics
SKZ - German Plastics Center • Successfully establishing German quality standards
Products made of plastics are a constant companion in a human being's life. One relies on their safe functionality, high degree of practicability and long life cycle. In Germany, the plastics centre SKZ has been active as a service provider for the plastics industry for more than 50 years.
Its work is based on four pillars: with quality assessments it ensures the quality assurance of products, process operations, processing technologies and manufacturing equipment. Intensive research ensures development in line with market requirements and the improvement of products and production technologies. With its certification of management systems, the SKZ provides an important tool for improving the performance capability and the economic success of businesses in the industry. And ultimately, the SKZ is the market leader for continuing education and knowledge transfer in the field of plastics with more than 10,000 training course and seminar participants each year.
Since the 1970s, the SKZ has been supporting German enterprises abroad, who rely on a well-trained skilled workforce on site. The SKZ qualifies the employees in order to allow for full utilisation of the advantages of plastics as a material and first and foremost to ensure that safety standards are being observed. Since the 1990s, the SKZ has been offering its training services directly on site in various countries and by now it has also been active within the iMOVE network for many years.
In Turkey there is great interest in applying the high German quality standards in the field of building also on a domestic level. Contrary to Germany, certain licences for welders are not required by law. However, many companies nonetheless place great importance on the fact that their employees can prove their qualification by way of a recognised examination.
In 2013 and in co-operation with the Turkish company GEZER, the SKZ opened the SKZ Continuing Education Centre Cayirova, located 60 kilometres south-east of Istanbul. GEZER is a middle-sized business specialising in the field of plant engineering and construction and container construction as well as in the construction of plastic pipes for chemical facilities. GEZER consciously chose the SKZ as its partner in the training provision because of its experience and its international reputation.
The training workshop for plastics welding has been furnished according to German regulations for carrying out various practical training courses. The training programme comprises certified training courses for welding of plastic pipelines and semi-finished products made of plastics.
In addition to welding equipment, the workshop features also its own testing equipment including documentation software for assessing the welded components. While GEZER is responsible for providing the required premises and infrastructure as well as the recruitment of course participants, the SKZ is responsible for the actual training provision and examination of the future plastics welders. The certificates that can be obtained from SKZ in Turkey enjoy a high degree of reputation because they conform to German quality standards.
By now, the first practical training course has been carried out. The eight course participants gathered information regarding various methods of welding and were given the opportunity of practically implementing and practising what they had learned. At the end of the 5-day training course, all participants successfully passed their final examination. They were issued a SKZ certificate as well as documentation by which they can prove their qualification for the proper execution of welding jobs on plastic pipes.
In 2014, the practical training of about 50 participants is scheduled to be carried out at the training workshop. Other plastics-related topics that are considered important for the Turkish growth market include injection moulding and extrusion. To this end, a Turkish-born trainer and employee of the SKZ in Germany will offer native-language continuing education courses in Turkey in the future.
Information
This sucess story was first published in the iMOVE publication Developing Skills for Employability with German Partners • 8 Success Stories from Turkey. The brochure was published in 2014.
