Abstract
As the industrial world inches ever closer to adopting the Industry 4.0 paradigm, it becomes necessary to evolve a model industrial engineering (IE) learning facility framework that is comprehensive enough to accommodate the full range of exposures required to give students a total practical learning experience. This paper formulates a description model (morphology) and classification scheme for an IE learning facility that considers various levels of automation, including Industry 4.0, to support holistic IE education and training in South Africa. The literature is searched to investigate the state of the art in IE practical learning infrastructure. A questionnaire survey then determines the current status and practices among universities offering industrial engineering. This is followed by the construction of a learning facility framework embodying a mix of facility types, along with a delineation of their relevant characteristics, niches, and strengths that can be customised and deployed to maximise the practical experiences of students.
Highlights
1.1 Industrial engineering education support infrastructure in Industry 4.0Technology is, without a doubt, playing a critical role in how engineering curricula are being developed and implemented
The intent of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework, in a South African context, that embodies different dimensions of a learning facility, from manual labs to Industry 4.0 learning factories, as a basis on which a learning facility mix strategy can be built
The misgivings of some institutions to take up new concepts and technologies such as Industry 4.0 learning systems [8] mean that a full case must be made in outlining the place and benefits of each component in the full complement of facilities needed in the learning support infrastructure
Summary
1.1 Industrial engineering education support infrastructure in Industry 4.0Technology is, without a doubt, playing a critical role in how engineering curricula are being developed and implemented. 1.1 Industrial engineering education support infrastructure in Industry 4.0. To meet the challenges associated with the increasing digitisation and complexity of industrial systems, a greater degree of flexibility and scope is needed in the industrial engineering practical teaching and learning facilities that are required to ensure holistic learning by students. Innovative learning environments are required that can react quickly and flexibly to the fluid nature of today’s industrial environments. The objective is to provide a platform to evaluate the role and strengths of each learning facility so that alternatives can be compared and choices made to formulate and adopt a strategy. A ‘learning facility’ is any infrastructural environment or setting such as a laboratory, physical or virtual; a learning factory, physical or virtual; or a real factory — that is, a setting other than a place for purely theoretical classroom instruction, where students spend time using the facility to study, learn under (or without) guidance, or investigate a concept
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