Multimedia learning units on the Internet present current industrial fields of work to potential applicants

In many cases, the fields of work available to young scientists and engineers in industry are as attractive for entry-level employees as they are unfathomable. The demands made of entry-level employees are growing; the technical processes and apparatus are ever more complex. Industrial companies complain that, in spite of their high-level qualifications from school, study and at technical college, applicants often have an incorrect grasp, or no idea at all, about the positions on offer and the research and production processes that take place. Together with the industry, FIZ CHEMIE wants to close this gap. The non-profit-making scientific infrastructure facility of the Leibniz Community offers companies the opportunity to present, at a scientific level of quality, their working processes and the resources, technical equipment and procedures used in them within a framework of "Industrial Learning Units" (ILUs) on ChemgaPedia. With an average of 350,000 users each month, ChemgaPedia is the most-visited scientific and technical training platform in the German-speaking area.

The companies INMATEC, KNAUER, ORGENTEC and Heraeus are making the first move. The first five ILUs created with these industrial partners hae been activated for public access in ChemgaPedia at the end of August, at the 3rd EuCheMS chemistry conference in Nuremberg (29.08. to 02.09.2010).

In its ILU, INMATEC GaseTechnologie GmbH Co. KG, a manufacturer of nitrogen and oxygen generators, as well as a supplier of technical and medical gases, is presenting methods and procedures for nitrogen generation for inertisation in industrial production procedures, as carried out by companies in their own production.

Wissenschaftliche Gerätebau Dr. Ing. Herbert Knauer GmbH, a leading German manufacturer and service provider for products for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and osmometry, is showing, with the help of an extensive learning chapter, the procedure for thrifty use of solvents in HPLC. HPLC is one of the most frequently applied methods of analysis and purification in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.

ORGENTEC Diagnostika GmbH is the world's market leader in the development and production of test systems for auto-immune diagnostics. The company has created two learning units, which build on each other, but which can also be used independently. The first ILU explains the principles of auto-immune reactions in humans. The second presents the associated laboratory diagnostics and details of the analysis methods used.

The precious-metal and technology group Heraeus is one of the best addresses in the world in the business of precious and special metals, and is providing an introduction to the world of platinum. The company is presenting the extraction and processing of platinum, examples of products produced from platinum, and the possibilities for recovering volatile platinum oxide from procedures which are used to produce nitric acid, for example.

The training content is created by specialists at the company. The CHEMGAROO specialist editors provide technical and didactic support. In their design, the learning units integrate seamlessly into the existing learning material in ChemgaPedia, which presents specialist content clearly, interactively and comprehensibly through the combination of text, animation, videos and graphics. Thanks to free, online access, the content is available at any time from any place. Dr. Kirsten Hantelmann, Product Manager of e-learning at FIZ CHEMIE, sees great potential for recruiting staff through this new way of presenting fields of work. "Through ChemgaPedia, companies in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry and associated areas can reach exactly the target group from which they may obtain their future specialist employees. ChemgaPedia is used by students, pupils and educators in almost all scientific and technical places of training in Germany. Conversely, those looking for work can anonymously gain a practical picture at any time of the research and production processes taking place in companies to which they may want to apply."

Source: Fachinformationszentrum Chemie GmbH