LEARNING NEEDS RELEVANT TO THE FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY INTHE DIGI4WEARABLES CONSORTIUM COUNTRIES– PRELIMINARYRESULTS OF THE EUROPEAN PROJECT DIGI4WEARABLES

Autoret

Tatjana SPAHIU, Ermira SHEHI, Armand AGOLLI, Luan BASHA, Edvin PRENCE, Skënder PASHAJ, Arina SEUL, Adriana CHIRILA, Athanasios MANAVIS, Panagiotis KYRATSIS, Rita SOUTO BIZARRO, Florbela SILVA, Agni VYTANIOTOU, Dimosthenis PAPAKONSTANTINOU

Abstract. Manufacturing of leather and footwear products in Albania is an important sector of the economy.Mainly, this sector is comprised of companies producing and exporting the whole product and companies producing and exporting part of product work. Meantime there is a growing number of companies operating in the footwear sector that have shifted their business model to Full Package. This change in business model has pointed out the need for a qualified workforce from the companies. The European Educational Project -Capacity Building in the field of Vocational Education and Training (VET), DIGI4WEARABLES – Digital Tools for Wearable Products for the Shoe Industry co-founded by the European Union ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CB-VET aims to develop and pilot an innovative training methodology using emerging and inclusive practices and tools to improve the knowledge of workers in footwear companies in Albania on digital manufacturing. Moreover, these digital tools will sustain the sustainable way of production as an emerging need required for every company, to reduce the negative impact on the environment. In this work, the preliminary results of the project are presented. They include setting up the target groups and research/validation tools to identify multi-level skill needs in the footwear industry in Albania and all partner countries. The survey results highlight the need for companies to include digital manufacturing and the importance of training on these digital tools.

Keywords: footwear products, focus group, companies, digital technologies.

Link. https://sciendo.com/chapter/9788367405829/10.2478/9788367405829-070