Abstract
With its potential to change significantly the knowledge and skill-set requirements for industrial engineers (IEs), Industry 4.0 creates a need to reassess the place of IEs to avoid a greater shock than that caused by the information technology identity crisis of the 1990s. This article examines the likely impacts of Industry 4.0 on industrial engineering (IE) and proposes enhancements to IE curricula in South Africa. Research methods include a literature review, a study of IE curricula, and a questionnaire survey of IE programmes. Results indicate that several IE functions might become somewhat transformed, less visible, or downright diminished in Industry 4.0. Emphasis has shifted from traditional IE methods to data-driven functions and cyber-physical systems. The developing mismatch needs correcting by emphasising skills such as ‘big data’ analytics and novel human-machine interfaces in IE curricula. Only one university in South Africa has made progress towards the adoption of an Industry 4.0 infrastructure. The authors propose a set of curriculum enrichment items as the basis for reform.
Highlights
1.1 Industrial engineering in Industry 4.0 It is common knowledge that, in general, the engineering discipline follows technological trends
Even though many of the advances in technology that form the foundation for Industry 4.0 have emerged over the last 10 to 15 years [2], Shead [3] reports that the term ‘Industry 4.0’ was first coined in 2011 by a group of scientists and industry executives who advised the German government on how to develop its technology strategy. (The group completed its report in 2013.) What appears to be giving the phenomenon its current impetus, beyond the industrial influence of Germany, is the maturity and commercial affordability of the underlying technologies [6], and the promise they hold for integrating industrial systems for significant productivity gains
This paper describes research to address this gap of knowledge, with a view to providing a resource that enables academic institutions offering industrial engineering (IE) to assess their options regarding the Industry 4.0 paradigm, while providing an opportunity to sensitise all the stakeholders, including regulatory bodies, professional associations, and the broader education system
Summary
1.1 Industrial engineering in Industry 4.0 It is common knowledge that, in general, the engineering discipline follows technological trends. This is true of industrial engineering (IE), which is defined as “concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy...” [1]. The focus of this article is an investigation of the likely impacts on IE education and curriculum of a major current worldwide trend in industry referred to as ‘Industry 4.0’, and the identification of curriculum content enhancements necessary to accommodate Industry 4.0 concerns. It is necessary to identify the potential curriculum reforms that would prepare and give IEs sufficient knowledge so that they can function effectively in Industry 4.0 systems, as well as in traditional organisations. Even though many of the advances in technology that form the foundation for Industry 4.0 have emerged over the last 10 to 15 years [2], Shead [3] reports that the term ‘Industry 4.0’ was first coined in 2011 by a group of scientists and industry executives who advised the German government on how to develop its technology strategy. (The group completed its report in 2013.) What appears to be giving the phenomenon its current impetus, beyond the industrial influence of Germany, is the maturity and commercial affordability of the underlying technologies [6], and the promise they hold for integrating industrial systems for significant productivity gains
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