Training course – EU AI Act & AI Compliance – Manufacturing

EU AI Act & AI Compliance for Manufacturing Teams

Putting the EU AI Act into practice: risk categories, deployer obligations, AI literacy under Art. 4, AI policy and GDPR interfaces.

Duration
6 hours, one session
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“EU AI Act & AI Compliance for Manufacturing Teams” is a hands-on course for roles such as Production and plant managers, Shift leaders and supervisors and Manufacturing and process engineers. Rather than learning EU AI Act & AI Compliance in the abstract, you work on tasks from your daily routine – with examples, exercises and templates from Manufacturing.

The EU AI Act is the first comprehensive legal framework for artificial intelligence, and it applies not only to providers but also to organisations that use AI systems in their daily work. In this compact course you will learn how the regulation is structured: prohibited practices, high-risk systems, transparency obligations and general-purpose AI models. You will find out which role your organisation plays as a deployer, which obligations follow and how to record and classify the AI applications you use in a structured way.

The practical part turns the requirements into manageable steps. You clarify what the AI literacy obligation under Article 4 means in concrete terms, how to organise training in a verifiable way and what an internal AI policy should cover. You also examine the interfaces with the GDPR, such as legal bases, data protection impact assessments and automated decision-making. You leave with an AI inventory template, a draft policy and a clear compliance roadmap for your area of work.

Manufacturers face cost pressure, skills shortages, complex product variants and high expectations for on-time delivery. Generative AI adds a new layer to existing Industry 4.0 solutions: AI assistants make knowledge from manuals, fault logs and work instructions accessible, support shift handovers, summarise KPIs from MES and ERP exports and help with root cause analysis using methods such as 5 Whys or Ishikawa. AI agents and automation create shift reports, analyse machine breakdowns and prepare maintenance orders. Experienced staff in particular benefit when their knowledge is documented and made available to new colleagues. Adoption succeeds when it starts with concrete shop-floor problems, involves works councils and health and safety early and keeps production data secure.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Production and plant managers
  • Shift leaders and supervisors
  • Manufacturing and process engineers
  • Maintenance teams
  • Lean and operational excellence leads

Typical challenges we address

  • Capturing and passing on the know-how of experienced staff
  • Analysing breakdowns quickly and reducing downtime
  • Presenting KPIs such as OEE from various systems in an understandable way
  • Keeping work instructions current and clear across many variants

What you will be able to do

  • You can explain how the EU AI Act is structured and assign your organisation to the correct roles.
  • You can classify the AI applications in use by risk category and maintain an AI inventory.
  • You can name the specific obligations of deployers and derive appropriate measures.
  • You can develop an AI literacy concept under Article 4 and a draft internal AI policy.
  • Use AI for knowledge management, root cause analysis and shift reporting in production.
  • Analyse production KPIs with AI and derive improvement actions.
  • Take data security, co-determination and occupational safety into account in manufacturing AI projects.

Course outline

Module 1 Structure and logic of the EU AI Act
  • Objectives, scope and phased application of the regulation
  • Roles at a glance: provider, deployer, importer and distributor
  • The risk-based approach: prohibited practices, high risk, limited risk and minimal risk
  • Specific rules for general-purpose AI models
Module 2 Classifying risk in practice
  • Prohibited practices such as social scoring or emotion recognition in the workplace
  • High-risk areas under Annex III, including recruitment, creditworthiness and education
  • Transparency obligations for chatbots, synthetic content and deepfakes
  • Recording and classifying your own AI applications in an AI inventory
Module 3 Obligations for deployers of AI systems
  • Use in line with instructions and human oversight by competent staff
  • Input data quality, monitoring of operation and retention of logs
  • Informing employees and affected persons and reporting serious incidents
  • Fundamental rights impact assessment: when it is required and how it works
Module 4 AI literacy under Art. 4 and internal AI policy
  • What sufficient AI literacy means for different roles
  • Designing training concepts and documenting measures verifiably
  • Components of an AI policy: approved tools, data classes, approvals and labelling
  • Responsibilities, AI officers and involving the works council and IT
Module 5 GDPR interfaces and governance
  • Legal bases, purpose limitation and data minimisation when using AI
  • Data protection impact assessment and its relationship to the fundamental rights assessment
  • Automated individual decisions, data subject rights and data processing agreements
  • Compliance roadmap: priorities, ownership and regular review
Module 6 Practice lab: Manufacturing
  • Shop-floor knowledge assistant
  • Root cause analysis
  • Shift reports and handovers
  • Work instructions
  • KPI analysis
  • Maintenance preparation
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Production data and engineering know-how are trade secrets and belong only in approved AI environments; in Germany, AI-based evaluation of employee performance or behaviour requires works council co-determination. AI components in safety-related machine functions fall under the EU Machinery Regulation and may be high-risk under the EU AI Act.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Shop-floor knowledge assistant

An AI assistant answers questions about machines, changeovers and fault patterns based on manuals, breakdown history and work instructions, always citing the source for verification.

Root cause analysis

AI structures breakdowns and quality issues using 5 Whys, Ishikawa or 8D, suggests possible causes from similar cases and helps document actions and responsibilities.

Shift reports and handovers

Notes, machine data and fault reports are turned into structured shift reports with output, breakdowns and open points, making handover to the next shift easier.

Work instructions

AI turns process descriptions, photos and expert interviews into illustrated, multilingual work instructions and checklists in plain language and keeps variants consistent.

KPI analysis

MES and ERP exports are analysed, OEE losses broken down by availability, performance and quality and anomalies explained clearly for shop-floor meetings.

Maintenance preparation

Automations collect fault reports; AI groups recurring failures, drafts maintenance orders and prioritises actions based on frequency and impact, before maintenance planning takes them over.

Prerequisites

No legal background is required. A basic knowledge of the GDPR and an overview of the AI applications used or planned in your area are helpful. You work in production, production planning or maintenance and know the processes at your plant.

Technical requirements

All you need is a laptop with an up-to-date browser and an office suite for working with templates. No special AI licences are necessary.

Data protection & compliance

Production data and engineering know-how are trade secrets and belong only in approved AI environments; in Germany, AI-based evaluation of employee performance or behaviour requires works council co-determination. AI components in safety-related machine functions fall under the EU Machinery Regulation and may be high-risk under the EU AI Act.

Dates & locations

For every location we suggest a date roughly four weeks ahead. Your preferred date is always possible.

  • Munich Tue, 15 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Salzburg Fri, 11 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Berlin Mon, 14 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Augsburg Thu, 10 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Hanover Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Bremen Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Stuttgart Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Kaiserslautern Tue, 15 December 2026 6 hrs Request
  • Online Wed, 16 December 2026 6 hrs Request

Frequently asked questions

Does the EU AI Act apply to companies that only use AI tools?

Yes. Anyone using AI systems under their own authority in a professional context is a deployer. All deployers must, in particular, ensure that their staff have sufficient AI literacy. Where high-risk systems are used, for example in recruitment, further obligations apply, such as human oversight, logging and informing the people affected.

Does this course satisfy the training obligation under Article 4?

The course covers core AI literacy content and you receive a certificate of attendance that you can add to your documentation. However, Article 4 requires measures tailored to role, prior knowledge and context of use. That is why you also learn how to set up and maintain your own AI literacy concept for your organisation.

Does the course replace legal advice?

No. The training provides practical knowledge for specialists and managers so they can interpret requirements, ask precise questions and implement first measures. For binding assessments of individual systems, especially in high-risk areas, you should involve your legal department, your data protection officer or external specialist lawyers.

Do we need to connect AI to our machines?

Not necessarily. Many use cases, such as knowledge assistants, work instructions or root cause analysis, work with documents and MES or ERP exports. Connecting directly to machine data is a later step that requires IT and OT security. In the course we start with use cases you can implement quickly.

How do we gain acceptance from the workforce?

By making AI visibly ease work, for example through faster troubleshooting or simpler documentation, rather than being perceived as a monitoring tool. Involve employees and their representatives early, start with pilot areas and clearly define which data will not be used for performance evaluation.

How much does “EU AI Act & AI Compliance for Manufacturing Teams” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 6 hours of live training with a trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. For every location we suggest a date roughly four weeks ahead. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and get back to you within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

Can the course be tailored to our team?

Yes. Tailor-made courses cost approx. €4,500 more, depending on the topic and by arrangement. We agree content, examples and exercises with you in advance.

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