Introduction

We are all in the digital era amid the various innovations around us. Every day, we learn about new technologies, or at least the new applications of new-age or exponential technologies. As a result, content development, consumption, and assimilation or usage are also undergoing a sea change. The same trend is also noted in online learning and training across the industries. The metal and mining industry is no exception. The major change in the Metal & mining industry in learning and development is the rapid increase in the digital adoption for training and development of the employees.

The overall digital learning and training or e-learning market is valued at USD 399.3 billion in 2022. According to a report from Global Market & Insight, the market will keep growing at an enviable CAGR of 14% till 2032 and reach a total global size of USD 1 trillion. Team AL Circle’s research indicates that the Metal and mining industry will consume a good 10-12% of the digital learning content, and around 14-15% of that material will be consumed by only the Aluminium value chain and the allied industries (except the industries serving the aluminium value chain). Hence, the share of the Aluminium industry in the global e-learning market is around 1.4%-1.8%. So, on the higher side, the market size for e-learning only in the Aluminium industry has been USD 7.18 billion, on a higher side. The same industry will have a market size of USD 18 billion, considering the same CAGR of 14%.

This means a compelling business opportunity for the Ed-Tech companies in the domain of aluminium. Out of this market opportunity, a good 12-15% will be common for the areas like basic communications, management skills, some manufacturing industry-specific skills, etc. The rest will be tools and techniques or other areas very specific to the Aluminium industry only.

Aluminium industry – the shifting paradigm of learning

Aluminium is one of the most abundant metals on earth’s surface. It is practically infinite in nature, as it can be recycled up to 100%. The secondary aluminium (produced by recycling) is also much less energy-consuming (only around 5-10% of the energy required during the production of the primary aluminium). Hence, aluminium is a green metal as well. Application-wise, aluminium has a huge potential to grow, and new application areas are coming up every day. The various end-user segments driving the usage of aluminium are automobile & transportation, electrical, packaging, fashion (growing very fast), construction and the like.

Aluminium has been the only metal registering a steady growth over the last decade, and team AL Circle estimates that the same will only grow in the years to come. As a result, some sporadic challenges notwithstanding, the Aluminium sector will keep on employing more people, and as a result, there will be rapidly increasing demand for the learning and development of these resources as many of them, depending on the role and domain, will also join the industry for the first time.
This will present an interesting challenge to the Aluminium industry. New technologies, digital ways of working, alignment of green initiatives, compliance requirements, etc., will result in new types of skills and learning requirements, and the rapid increase in the workforce will result in significant pressure on the learning mechanism. The Aluminium industry is going to demand more flexible, effective, and immersive learning mechanisms, and only digital learning platforms can provide that.

Types of learning requirements of the aluminium industry

The overall types of learning requirements in the Aluminium value chain may be defined across a few categories. These are mentioned below:

• Production & manufacturing methodologies: These topics encompass the training related to the core activities of the aluminium companies. For example, for an Aluminium smelting company, training on reasons for pot line failure and possible remedies may be a good topic under this category.
• Shop-floor-related training: Topics like general awareness about safety on the shop floor, 5S, and Poka Yoke (Japanese technique of fool-proofing, etc.) may be some of the topics.
• New age digital techniques: Industry 4.0, usage of smart sensors, using production dashboards, digital enablement, related analytics techniques, digital maintenance – diagnostics, etc., maybe a few training programs in this category.
• Management and related topics: Various training programs like gamification, planning and budgeting, Excel sheets, communication, presentation skills, and many other training programs related to a company or, in general, may be good candidates for this category.

Different modes of consumption within the digital learning space

Such a wide variety of training or learning materials get consumed across various devices or modes. Such modes are: Online e-learning (around 47% of the entire market size), Mobile-based e-learning (about 15%), virtual classrooms (around 12%), LMS platforms (around 11%) and the others together comprising the rest of the market. Team AL Circle’s internal research reveals that in the future, more share of the online learning market will go to online e-learning and mobile-based e-learning platforms. Consumption will increase in the pre-recorded training sessions and online portals. Topic-wise, management, technology and general topics will grow at a steady rate, but the major growth will come from the new-age technology areas like AI, Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation, Virtual reality, and the like. Aluminium companies worldwide are investing in this space, and the trend will also grow in the future.

Future trends in learning in the aluminium industry

AL Circle’s internal research reveals that over the last few years, the spending of the Aluminium industry towards digital tools and techniques has increased significantly. The trend is maintained even after the pandemic period. It is predicted that the trend will only go northwards. Such investments will be driven primarily by the organized sector – the bigger companies in mining, refractories, primary aluminium producers, big extrusion players, technology services providers, recyclers and machinery & equipment manufacturing companies. One of the substantial beneficiaries of such investment is the Learning and Development (L&D) of the employees in the aluminium companies. Hence, how the aluminium sector grows in terms of its learning across the different platforms, content consumption, and how the same reflects in driving innovation towards efficiency, sustainability, higher compliance, and innovative business models will be very interesting to ponder.