EM – “The higher you go, the farther the horizon, the wider the view”, Confucius said in an era more than two millennia ago and certainly at that time there was no… elevator. The height limit will be broken in turn by new records. But to do so, how necessary will education and training be for people to meet their own expectations?
Bringing people to the top
According to calculations by scientists, if the world did not have elevators, the average buildings would only be 5 – 7 floors high, which is the right height for people, who need to climb stairs daily. To be able to think about constantly breaking the height limit in construction, the first solution must take into account the means by which we should move?
The most suitable answer is: the elevator. That is why buildings only started to spring up with the advent of this reliable vertical transport.
In 1890, the world was amazed by the tallest building with a height of 106 meters, just over 20 years later the skyscraper in New York more than doubled this record, reaching 241 meters high. By 2010, the height limit of buildings was pushed up to 810 meters. Of course, they require the mandatory element of modern elevators with the highest quality.
The tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa in Dubai
That said, elevators play a core role in promoting the development of compact cities, where building density is increasingly concentrated, land use coefficient is high, travel distance is short, etc. according to the inevitable development trend of mankind.
It has been estimated that the average person will use the elevator 4 times a day, 325 million passengers will take the elevator every day, and it will only take 3 days for the elevators to carry the entire population of the Earth. Elevators are the largest means of transporting people on the planet.
But to reach greater heights using elevators, what do we need?
Education and training help people “going further”
Nadeem Shahriyar is an apprentice engineer at an elevator company named Precision Lifts. After 2 years of training here, he shared: “The biggest challenge is really learning the right way to become a good engineer. For example, it is as simple as how to find the cause of the error more efficiently, root it out completely, to avoid repetition of tasks. Or, how to ensure that the elevator is always safe during use, what mandatory procedures and rules need to be strictly followed”.
Nadeem Shahriyar (2nd from left) is feeling happy at work because he has learned many things that are very useful for his career.
The highlight of Nadeem Shahriyar’s career is that he has grown up and been entrusted with many responsibilities at work. His next goal is to work hard,learn, and build on the training foundation to advance his career.
He enrolled in an additional skills training program for the elevator industry, earned a certification, and is now a qualified engineer. Shahrivar wants to start his own real career soon by putting all his experience into work and being able to test himself to see how far he can go.
“For someone considering an apprenticeship, my advice is to get started. Engineers, especially in the elevator industry, will always be in high demand, because there are always buildings that need elevators. Once you’ve earned your certification, you’ll get a guarantee of your qualifications, you’ll be sought after and valued by any employer in the industry,” added Nadeem Shahriyar.
What can we learn from the experience of the G7 countries?
Germany started its term as the Chairman of the Group of Leading Industrialized Countries (G7) earlier this year. Although leading in Europe and second in the world in industrial output, this Western European country always has a shortage of skilled workers in technical industries, including elevators.
The situation seems to get worse when an assessment survey by Prognos – the leading prestigious consulting firm in Europe showed that Germany is forecast to have a shortfall of around 3 million skilled workers until the end of the year 2030. Mechanical, electrical, construction, etc. engineers are in the top 10 of the above-mentioned occupations with labor shortage.
One factor causing widespread skill shortages in the future is the aging of the German workforce. According to current projections, the working-age population, i.e. people aged 20 to 64, will decrease from 49.8 to 45.9 million by 2030.
To solve this problem, one of the activities that the German government is promoting is the dual vocational training program. Specifically related to the elevator industry, VFA-Interlift e.V (Verband Fur Aufzug Teknik – E.V Elevator Technology Association), an organization representing the interests of elevator companies located in the national German-speaking community, has developed the above training program.
In VFA’s dual training programs, students will both learn theory at a vocational school and have an apprenticeship at an enterprise affiliated with the school. At the end of the course, students will be awarded a certificate at school and a certificate from the business. The program will prepare students with a solid foundation not only in academic terms but also in practical knowledge, such as how to operate an elevator or handle problems arising at construction sites.
An advantage of the dual vocational training system is the fact that trainees have the opportunity to develop social skills. This is of vital importance to career success. To learn how to work in teams of different composition, to resolve conflicts with superiors or colleagues, to communicate with customers or to capture information and solve problems quickly, etc. These transferable skills are difficult to be trained and learnt only at school.
Another advantage is that this program is recognized nationally and is basically the same, suitable for all businesses, so learners can be flexible in finding businesses to finish their internship. However, each company will also have its own training programs, which are their own “secrets”.
Training also contributes to the improvement of qualifications at the affiliated enterprises because the enterprises participating in the training process keep their technology up to date.
However, this program also has the disadvantage of lacking close cooperation between the employer and the training unit. The fact is that such corporations are still too low and just stop at the exchange of information. Thus, showcasing the essentiality of employers’ participation in the training program to ensure that such programs match the skills required in the real world.
This is also one of the recommendations made by the Director of the International Labor Organization in Vietnam (ILO Vietnam) in the Conference on Improving the quality of human resources in the elevator industry, recently organized by the Vietnam Elevator Association mid-July 2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Ms. Ingrid Christensen – Director of ILO Vietnam talking to a reporter from the Elevator Magazine
The Vietnam Elevator Association is pioneering in coordinating with the General Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and relevant agencies to develop and standardize the vocational training program for elevator technicians. The dual training solution has been taken into account, consulting with such training models of developed countries and applied in accordance with the status quo in Vietnam.
We will need to prepare to provide a skilled, high-quality workforce that will serve as the core foundation for the country’s elevator industry to take off.
