Automotive industry is one of the sectors strongly affected by the economic crisis. Despite or perhaps because of this fact, it is a sector that continues to seek innovation and new ways of employee training. This follows from the first European study on employee training in the automotive industry titled Driving Results with Learning Technologies in the Automotive Sector. The study, which involves 15 major European car manufacturers, was commissioned by Toyota Motor Europe and drew up by Towards Maturity.
It turned out that, in comparison with other sectors, the automotive industry has more experience with the use of modern technologies for education. While the share of e-enabled learning in European companies achieved an average 22%, in the automotive industry it is 55%. Most car manufacturers surveyed use some type of technology for learning for more than three years.
With regard to staff training topics in the automotive industry, general sales skills, customer care, leadership and management and specific regulatory requirements dominate. The volume of traditional classroom training is decreasing (currently 45%) in favor of blended learning (41%) and online training (14%). E-learning takes place in a variety of environments from virtual classrooms to mobile devices.
Main barriers to implementing e-learning in the automotive industry are related to ICT infrastructure but also to lesser support from senior management. Most carmakers have increased their training budgets in the last two years and expect further increase in the following years. Further development of the use of educational technologies is expected, too.
The results of the study were published by Towards Maturity in a press release. The whole study is available for download after free registration using a link at the bottom of the press realease.
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