Requirements of human resource in Vietnam mechanical industry in the context of industry 4.0

tate peer interactions that fuel innovation. The shift away from ‘hands-on’ physical tasks 
likely also means that remote working scenarios will become even more ubiquitous, requiring 
workers to have more and different collaboration and communication skills.
Adaptability: With evolving technologies constantly impacting the way people work 
(or have to work), continuous training and a willingness to learn and change will be required 
of all workers. Not surprisingly, getting staff to accept change seems to be the first and most 
important hurdle to overcome when rolling out smart manufacturing efforts.
It is also necessary to mention here that the skill-set of a large number of those 
currently employed in the workforce are not adequate to deal with the changes that 
digitization will bring and re-skilling is the need of the hour. Also, academia has not yet risen 
to the challenge, offering degrees and specializations in silos instead of creating a truly 
multidisciplinary educational course (Mechantronics Engineering, a sub field in mechanical 
engineering has gained popularity and although it broadly encompasses the fundamentals for 
designing intelligent devices and systems, it is not wholly adequate for grasping Industry 4.0 
which lies at the intersection of computing, electronics, mechanics and business). In that 
sense, no graduates of any particular discipline with limited core skills are well prepared for 
Industry 4.0 and thus mechanical engineers at no disadvantage compared to the others. But 
since a study of manufacturing comprises a substantial and fundamental part of their 
coursework, one is well equipped with a number of key skills and concepts. Design 
Engineering, Industrial Design, Operations Research and Manufacturing Processes are at the 
forefront of fields rapidly evolving with time and industry best practices. 
At this point, it is also important to have a look at what kind of skills can be provided in 
an engineering academic context and those that will be most useful with the advent of 
Industry 4.0. Usually, the specific and teachable scientific and technical abilities, that can be 
defined and measured and, that are related to the specific education one has received, 
constituted the hard skills. For example, typical hard skills of a mechanical engineer are 
represented by numerical and higher mathematical knowledge; problem solving, creativity 
and design skills; investigative and experimental skills, information processing, computer 
programming, and knowledge of specific software tools. Moreover, a mechanical engineer 
should have other particular hard skills, including a strong understanding of industry 
standards, and comfort working with computers, because much time is spent designing, 
simulating, and testing products and/or processes. 
288
 By contrast, soft skills are less tangible but not less important. Again, with reference to 
mechanical engineering, important soft skills are represented by strong analytical thinking, 
communication skills, teamwork and leadership skills. Nowadays, another category of skills, 
the digital skills, is emerging and it is facing with academia and industrial world. Digital 
skills comprise all skills related to digital world from the basic digital literacy skills to the 
digital skills for the general workforce, till the specific digital skills for the ICT professionals. 
The basic digital literacy skills are needed by every citizen to become “digitally literate”. 
These are the skills needed to carry out basic functions such as using digital applications to 
communicate and carry out basic Internet searches. The digital skills for the general 
workforce considers all of the basic skills plus the skills needed in a workplace and generally 
linked to the use of applications developed by IT specialists. While the digital skills needed 
by the workforce are likely to differ across sectors, there will be some minimum 
requirements linked to processing information that will be applicable across all sectors. The 
third category considers the digital skills for ICT professions which comprise all of the 
previous two categories, plus skills needed to work across the diverse ICT sector. They also 
include digital skills linked to the development of new digital technologies, and new products 
and services [4].
All of these in function of the consideration that, the main important asset of the 
Industry 4.0 framework is people. In fact, the workforce represents a critical component of 
the digital business transformation. And above all we must not forget that actually, culture 
and education are the main keys on which to leverage for promoting awareness and 
knowledge of these issues. 
In Industry 4.0, this way of learning seems to be challenged due to more specialized 
work and fewer employees doing the same type of work. Fewer people and more physical 
distance between each person results in new work organizations. This implies the need for 
novel learning systems i.e. in the form of supervision, guidance and collaborative learning; 
synchronous and/or asynchronous, mediated through ICT tools. ICT tools make it possible to 
develop new learning methodologies, throughout the spectrum from lifelong learning to 
campus students. The use of modern ICT opens new potentials for on-the-job, individual 
workplace learning, from more or less primitive e-learning schemes to advanced serious 
games [3].
Formal learning plays currently only a minor part in workplace learning, a norm is that 
about 80% of workplace learning is informal. Research shows that ICT supported learning 
will not make the teacher obsolete. ICT can boost more effective and efficient learning 
289
 processes, but not without support. Learning activities as social interactions guided by a 
teacher, has had the greatest impact on learning outcome, significantly bigger than other 
methods [10].
There is, however, still a need for social and practical training and technology is not a 
substitute for this, but a range of different tools that can enhance learning and increase 
learning space. The ability to collaborate is highly acknowledged and wanted by employers, 
therefore teamwork and communication must be facilitated in forthcoming work place 
learning paradigms. 
Abele et al. [1] has been working on a learning factory morphology, and the focus is on 
practice-oriented learning processes, but the effects on learning outcome and best didactical 
approaches are not well mapped yet. Another debate is whether learning factories are 
focusing too much on efficiency, as in reducing production costs, rather than human needs 
and demands in the manufacturing systems [7].
Figure 1. The Modern Workplace Learning Framework [17].
Jane Hart emphasizes the importance of management support to personal learning 
rather than management control of learning activities [5]. One conclusion from this work was 
Modern Workplace Learning
Value
Learning
Learning
from information,
Resources
 Learning
supporting
productivity and
job performance
 as part of daily
 working with others
 in teams and groups
 through sharing of
 knowledge and
 experiences
Social
 Collaboration
Personal
Learning
individually as
experiences in
 and using the Web
 Professional networking
keeping up to date, etc
 through
 the Workplace,
 part of daily
 self-improvement
Coureses
Learning from
instruction
Scheduled On demand continuous
Autonomy
290
 that modern learning is different from traditional learning in many ways as it is: continuous, 
on demand, takes place in short bursts and on the go and in the flow of work. Furthermore, it 
is social, serendipitous, autonomous and personal performance-oriented. 
Transition of mechanical engineering production to innovative phase of development 
also directly depends on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of specialists, working in 
the industry. More than two thirds of employers state about increased demand for personnel 
of new kind and profile; requirements to professional qualification grow. The increased 
demand in specialists of a new kind is related to modernization of equipment and 
technologies, expansion of production volumes, range of manufactured products and new 
markets conquering. The situation in the industry determines the innovative approaches to 
organization of personnel training for mechanical engineering enterprises objectively. 
As economy development has an advance nature, technological changes hinder the 
prediction development of demand for personnel and competencies, the demographic 
problems cannot be left unmentioned. It is also important to note an intensified skewness 
towards higher education and lack of qualified workforce, the gap between the structure of 
specialists training and labor market structure is increasing, and the prestige of blue-collar 
professions in the mechanical engineering sector is falling. Employers make steep demands 
to graduates, and the turnover of personnel increases. 
Market uncertainty, dynamism of social and cultural formation of the time, increased 
requirements to knowledge level in society now results in “ageing” of engineering and 
technical personnel of the national industrial complex. Qualification and knowledge level of 
the working people lags behind the contemporary requirements of knowledge-intensive 
technologies [15]. 
Reorganization of relations is required not only between enterprises and professional 
education institutions, but among professional education institutions of different level. 
Today it is impossible to solve the problem without social partnership in the area of 
professional education, the key role in its development we give to employers who should 
fulfill the functions in the company. 
The approach can be summarized in the following points: Virtual classrooms, opening 
for unsynchronized social learning. Learning paradigms bridging formal and informal 
learning; Futhermore, adaptive learning and individually tailored learning path, pace and
evaluation; Active and continuous career planning and management by and for individuals. 
Use of learning factories for synchronized social learning; Formation of priorities for on-the-
job training; Raising the funds and control their spending. 
291
 4. Conclusion 
Knowledge is the key for adding value as a result of fundamental research and 
education knowledge will drive technologies towards technical innovations and produce 
complex products with efficient processes. The qualification of workforce for mechanical 
manufacturing depends on the education system and facilities for manufacturing. 
In view of changes in the fourth industrial revolution, mechanical engineers in Vietnam 
need to be well trained, highly and multi skilled. Innovation is an extremely important issue 
for success in mechanical engineering. It often supports clear market position and 
differentiation among competitors. The article emphasizes the role of informal learning for 
mechanical engineers and workers in the organization with modern workplace learning to get 
knowledge and skills. It helps them adapt to drastic changes in Industrial 4.0 and be suitable 
with conditions in Vietnamese mechanical factories.
REFERENCES 
1.Abele et al. 2017, Learning factories for future oriented research and education in 
manufacturing. CIRP Annals, Volume 66, Issue 2, 2017, Pages 803-826. 
2.Barbara Motyl, Gabriele Baronio, Stefano Uberti, Domenico Speranza, Stefano Filippi 
(2017), How will change the future engineers' skills in the Industry 4.0 framework? A 
questionnaire survey; 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent 
Manufacturing, FAIM2017, 27-30 June 2017, Modena, Italy. 
3. Borzoo Pourabdollahian, Marco Taisch, Endris Kerga (2012), Serious Games in 
Manufacturing Education: Evaluation of Learners’ Engagement, Procedia Computer 
Science, Volume 15, 256-265.
4. European Commission: e-Skills for growth and jobs [Online] Available at: 
 [Acessed 01-Mar-2017]. 
5. Hart, J., (2016), Rethinking workplace learning, Learning in the Modern Workplace. 
6. Lizunkov, V. G., & Sushko, A. V. (2015). Podkhod CDIO v podgotovke bakalavrov 
mashinostroeniya [CDIO approach in training of mechanical engineering bachelors]. 
Sovremennye problemy teorii mashin [Modern problems of theory of machines], 3, 62-66.
7. Kreimeier, D., Morlock, F., Prinz, C., Krückhans, B., Bakir, D. C. and Meier, H. (2014), 
Holistic Learning Factories – A Concept to Train Lean Management, Resource Efficiency as 
Well as Management and Organization Improvement Skills. Procedia CIRP 17, 184-188.
8.Marina Suzdalova, Ekaterina Politsinskaya, Anastasia Sushko; About the Problem of 
Professional Personnel Shortage in Mechanical Engineering Industry and Ways of Solving; 
292
 XV International Conference "Linguistic and Cultural Studies: Traditions and Innovations”, 
LKTI 2015, 9-11 November 2015, Tomsk, Russia 
9.McKinsey&Company (2014). The future of German mechanical engineering. Operating 
successfully in a dynamic environment. VDM. German, July 2014. 
10. Mincu, M. E. (2015), Teacher quality and school improvement: what is the role of 
research? Oxford Review of Education 41, 253-269. 
11.Nina Tvenge, Kristian Martinsen (2018), Integration of digital learning in industry 4.0; 8th
Conference on Learning Factories 2018 - Advanced Engineering Education & Training for 
Manufacturing Innovation 
12. S. Suárez Fernández-Miranda, M. Marcos, M.E. Peralta, F. Aguayo (2017), The 
challenge of integrating Industry 4.0 in the degree of Mechanical Engineering;
Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference 2017, MESIC 2017, 28-30 June 
2017, Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain 
13. M. Rüßmann, M. Lorenz, P.Gerbert, M. Waldner, J. Justus, P. Engel, M. Harnisch M 
(2017). Industry 4.0: The future of productivity and growth in manufacturing industries. 
[Online] Available at: 
https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/engineered_products_project_business 
14. Regina Javier (2015), The 4th Industrial Revolution: Must-Have Skills for Engineers,
https://chemical-materials.elsevier.com/chemical-manufacturing-excellence/must-have-skills-
for-engineers/, 1/12/2015 
15.Suzdalova, M. A. (2013). Adaptatsiya obuchayushchikhsya uchrezhdeniy 
professional'nogo obrazovaniya k rynku truda [Adaptation of students of professional 
education institutions to labor market. Thesis abstract]. Kemerovo: KGU. 
16.VDMA European Office (2016), Industrie 4.0: Mastering the transition, Brussels. 
17.Wenger, E., 1988, Communities of Practice; learning meaning and identity. Cambridge 
University Press., Cambridge. 
18.https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/373429/human-resources-to-drive-industry-
40.html#xQZmAMLz0WlqF73E.97 (13/6/2016).
293