The cross-site project of the trainees of the ifm group of companies from Lake Constance and Essen, which started at the end of 2023, has been successfully completed. At the final meeting on July 9, 2025, the teams presented their results and exchanged experiences.

At Lake Constance, the trainees involved in the project are being trained as electronics technicians for devices and systems, and in Essen they are learning the profession of electronics technician for automation technology. The two training courses complemented each other perfectly: While the Lake Constance team developed a new circuit board and thus implemented a modern AS-i slave within the locomotive, the Essen team took over the planning and conversion of the rail guide as well as the selection, integration and programming of new AS-i components with an AC14xx.

AS-Interface: The AS-Interface (abbreviated AS-i for English Actuator-Sensor-Interface; German Actuator-Sensor Interface) is a standard for fieldbus communication that has been developed for connecting actuators and sensors. The aim is to replace the previous parallel cabling.

At the final meeting at the beginning of July, the results were presented, experiences were exchanged and the joint project was officially concluded. The project was not only a technical success, but also a great example of cross-site cooperation, personal responsibility and practical training. The trainees were thus able to expand their know-how and at the same time experience and master teamwork across site boundaries.