‘Training for the maintenance of the future’ – Göteborgs Tekniska College leads the way at Underhållsmässan 2026

When Underhållsmässan 2026 [The Swedish Maintenance Fair] opens its doors, Göteborgs Tekniska College (GTC) will once again be present — as they have been every year since 2010. This time, they are bringing something that reflects both the industry’s evolution and its biggest challenges: advanced training environments in which the maintenance technicians of the future practise in simulated industrial settings.

– Our theme is about how to prepare for successful maintenance by training in a simulated industrial environment, says Johan Bengtsson, Head of Technology Development at GTC.

New on the stand: simulated machines and skills training

On the GTC stand, visitors can not only see the technology behind today’s education programmes; they can try it out for themselves.

– We’ll be bringing equipment in the form of training rigs that allow people to practise different scenarios, covering both preventive and corrective maintenance, Johan explains.

Visitors navigate via an HMI panel and can open the machine to perform various tasks. They’ll be trained in handling, behaviour and compliance with standards.

– We also bring equipment for skills training in the form of various workstations for practising selected tasks.

The technology has been developed internally by GTC’s own team of educators, programmers, UX developers and consultants.

The skills of the future will require an increasingly complex profile

Skills provision is one of the most decisive issues facing the maintenance sector, and Göteborgs Tekniska College sits at the heart of efforts to address it. One clear example is its long-standing practice of bringing students from the industrial engineering programme to the fair each year – students who are close to graduating and already preparing to take their first steps into industry. By staffing the stand, they are given the opportunity to meet professionals, ask questions, and discuss maintenance from the perspective of their training.

– Education and skills provision are important. We see it as a valuable part of their education to meet the industry as exhibitors, Johan says.

Looking ahead, he describes a sector that demands both solid, traditional expertise and an understanding of new technology. In many factories, machines that have been in operation for decades stand alongside newer technologies built on digitalisation, automation and connected systems. As a result, the maintenance technician has to move between two worlds: classic workshop skills and new, data-driven ways of working.

– You need to know both the old and the new that is coming. It adds up to a pretty complex skill set.
New technology is reshaping the role itself, but traditional tasks still have to be carried out reliably. It is precisely this dual development that makes the future skills profile so complex, and that also makes initiatives such as GTC’s training environments and its presence at the fair so important.

Technology trends: Connected systems and data-driven decisions

Johan describes a clear trend in the industry:

– A trend that has been around for a while now is that everything that can be connected should be connected.

Although the technology has yet to reach its full potential, he points to the power of data-driven maintenance – not only in improving availability and sustainability, but also in enhancing job satisfaction.

GTC has run a series of projects focused on industrial digitalisation and the opportunities it brings. Across the training programmes GTC offers, both digitalisation and sustainable development are emphasised, helping to ensure that participants are ready for employment.

– Maintenance is an important part of achieving sustainable production, he says.

Where industry meets the future

For GTC, the fair is as much about driving development as it is about demonstrating its training environments.

– We hope to have engage in dialogue with visitors and industry professionals, but also to meet other exhibitors. We have many long-standing partners at the fair.

And his message to industry is clear: securing a supply of skilled labour requires a long-term approach.

– It is important to take a long-term view. You have to take responsibility for your own skills supply, he says, emphasising the importance of work experience, continuous recruitment and close cooperation with educational institutions.