Battery cell production has a key role in the transition of the mobility sector towards increased sustainability. In the coming years, the production capacities will be massively expanded, especially in Germany and Europe. This will lead to a great demand for skilled workers. At the same time, awareness is growing that sustainable and, above all, energy- and resource-efficient battery cell production requires closing material flows in the sense of a circular economy. However, this presupposes that future employees and specialists in this field can learn the relevant skills and abilities in an application-oriented manner at an early stage. For this purpose, new learning infrastructure is required to support the transformation towards sustainability.
With the current establishment of a new learning factory for "Circular Battery Cell Production" specific training and further education will be offered in a specialised teaching and learning environment based on real production processes. Central elements of the "Circular Battery Cell Production" learning factory are modular learning stations, each of which depicts individual process steps and can be flexibly combined to form process chains. The necessary production steps from the starting materials to the finished battery cell, from quality control to use and recycling can be learned and carried out in practice. The holistic view of the factory system is also represented by the implementation of technical building services, such as ventilation systems and air conditioning. All systems are embedded in a virtual environment in order to flexibly integrate individual processes as virtual learning stations. This allows the teaching and learning environment to be quickly adapted to different issues and future trends.
Currently, the project is in the technical development phase. A key factor for success of the learning factory and the realization of the positive impact on sustainability of battery cell production lies within the involvement of all relevant stakeholders. LEBAZ aims at implementing a suitable digital learning platform, which connects the real production processes to virtual learning paths, and creating a productive learning environment to foster learning success. With the ongoing realization of the project a start of operation is planned for late 2024.