Autor: Sven Völker

To succeed in their digital transformation, manufacturing companies need engineers with in-depth knowledge of key technologies and concepts, and a profound understanding of the transition from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0. This article describes the concept of a learning factory that is continuously subjected to a digital transformation, thereby creating an environment for the development of transformation competencies. The concept of digital transformation is based on digital worker assistance systems and multi-agent systems for production control. These enable the incremental integration of existing resources into the digitalized factory. The learning factory is not presented to students as a completed solution. Instead, it is continuously developed further as part of student projects. This way, it contributes directly to the qualification of personnel for the implementation of Industry 4.0.

The volatility of economic conditions and rapid technological progress require production sites to be constantly adapted and improved. This needs highly qualified factory planners who can use digital planning tools efficiently. The best qualifications emerge from closely interlinking the teaching of planning methods and the application of these methods in a planning project according to the principle of “learning by doing”.