Programmes
The search does not start at the course catalogue. It starts at the demand on the shop floor.
The search is not for a topic, but for the programme that takes a group to a target role.
The results come from an illustrative scenario. There are no provider partnerships yet.
Results by fit
Target role set, skill gap known, start from September
Industrial automation technology
91
Digital quality inspection and machine vision
87
High-voltage qualification, levels 2 and 3
84
Example scenario, no real providers and no bookable dates.
Results
What a search looks like when the demand is already known
The filter bar does not sort by popularity. It sorts by what qualification in shift work actually fails on. Every row shows how much of the skill gap a programme closes.
Filters
Industrial automation technology
- Technical academy
- Hybrid, alongside work
- 6 months
- October
- Stuttgart and remote
Control systemsRoboticsFault diagnosisIndustrial communicationOccupational safety91
4 of 5 required skills
Digital quality inspection and machine vision
- Testing and certification academy
- On site with practical part
- 4 months
- September
- Ingolstadt
Machine visionStatistical process controlTest programmes and equipmentReading production dataTest and process documentation87
3 of 5 required skills
High-voltage qualification, levels 2 and 3
- Manufacturer academy
- On site
- 3 weeks
- rolling
- Munich
High-voltage technologyOccupational safetyMetrologyTest and process documentation84
3 of 4 required skills
Condition-based maintenance and sensors
- Technical academy
- Hybrid
- 5 months
- November
- Nuremberg and remote
Sensors and condition monitoringReading production dataControl systems82
2 of 3 required skills
Production data and shop floor metrics
- Training provider
- Remote, alongside work
- 3 months
- January
- remote
Reading production dataData visualisationStatistical process control79
3 of 3 required skills
MES and digital control stations
- Systems integrator academy
- On site with line access
- 8 weeks
- March
- Stuttgart
MES and control stationReading production dataControl systems76
2 of 3 required skills
The fit value is not a seal of quality for the provider. It says how far a programme closes the gap for this target role, and it can be taken apart: you see every skill behind it.
A catalogue answers the question of which courses exist. On the shop floor the question runs differently: which programme takes this group from today's profile to the target role needed after the changeover?
The difference is not the number of offers
A bigger catalogue does not help when the question is wrong. Both searches below end in a list, but only one of them ends in a decision.
Searching a catalogue
Which courses are there on automation technology?
- The result is a topic list, sorted by provider or by popularity.
- What a course teaches sits as prose in a description and is not comparable between two providers.
- Whether it closes the gap is something somebody has to read and judge.
- Who attends, and when, is still open afterwards.
Searching from demand
Which programme takes the maintenance people to the target role of automation technician, on a three shift pattern, starting in autumn?
- The result is a list with a coverage figure, sorted by fit to the gap.
- What a programme teaches sits as a skill in the same grid as the demand.
- What stays open sits next to it and becomes the next building block on the learning path.
- Who attends follows from the role cluster, and the group size makes the date negotiable.
In detail
How a programme becomes comparable in the first place
Two providers describe the same thing in different words. As long as that holds, every result list is a stack of brochures. Comparability comes out of three steps.
Learning objectives are mapped onto skills
Each objective is mapped onto a skill and a level reached, so that it can stand next to the demand of a target role. Where a mapping is uncertain, it is carried as uncertain rather than quietly rounded.
Participants read control programmes, change sequences and commission a cell.
Control systems
Participants set up a robot, define paths and secure the cell.
Robotics
Participants read diagnostic data off the fieldbus and narrow down faults.
Industrial communication
Formats and dates are normalised
A block week, six sessions across two months and Fridays alongside work are three ways of writing down things that compare badly. So what gets recorded is total duration, the on-site share, days per week, position in the calendar and how often the start date repeats.
Prerequisites are recorded too
What gets recorded is required prior knowledge, required evidence, language level and, where the subject demands it, an existing authorisation. If part of the group misses a prerequisite, that becomes a preceding building block rather than a rejection.
What the grid follows
So that the same skill carries the same name across two providers, the grid follows ESCO, the open classification standard of the European Commission. For occupational descriptions, O*NET from the US Department of Labor comes on top.
- ESCO
3,039 occupations, 13,939 skill concepts
Version 1.2.1 of 10 December 2025, available in 28 languages, with an open interface and a free download.
- O*NET
1,016 occupations
Published under CC BY 4.0 and usable commercially with attribution. Source: O*NET, US Department of Labor.
The target roles themselves remain internal role profiles that a company defines for itself. They are not recognised German apprenticeship occupations, and we do not present them as such. The standard only makes sure the skills underneath speak the same language.
What this search is not
Again, better here than in the third meeting.
Not a catalogue to browse. Without a target role and a skill gap, all the search leaves behind is a list. The value only appears once there is a demand behind it.
Not a review platform. There are no star ratings and no paid placement. Quality signals come out of programmes actually run, and that requires programmes to have run first.
Not a learning management system. Content, attendance and certificates stay with the provider and in the company's existing system.
Not funding advice. Since 1 April 2024, Section 82a SGB III addresses qualification driven by structural change affecting at least 20 percent of the workforce. That shows the problem is recognised in law. Whether an entitlement exists, and at what level, is not something we assess.
Not built for single sign-ups. The search is built for groups, because only a group makes dates, formats and locations negotiable. For one person, the provider's own website will do.
A result list is only as good as the demand in front of it.
The Transformation Scan produces the role and skill picture that turns this search into an answer. Providers who want their programme visible in this grid find the way in here.