Integration of digitization trends in learning factories

Abstract

Abstract With the evolution of technologies, more and more manufacturing companies are taking the role of supplier and adopter of digital technologies. Engineering teaching and training arrangement should also be adjusted with practical and action-oriented approaches closer to the workplace. Therefore, learning factories have been developed to provide seminar participants with opportunities of learning in a real production environment. In this context, it is possible to transfer knowledge and skill in a very practice-oriented way. The benefits of a real production environment can be used both for academic education of students and training of industry participants. The main objective of learning factories is to convey the complex view of industrial processes and to communicate methods and concepts in order to identify potential for improvement and to implement more efficient processes. The following paper will present an overview of learning factories, followed by an explication of the necessity to integrate digital technologies in learning factories. Then, a specific example of the learning factory at Tsinghua University is presented to illustrate the practice to integrate digitalization trends in learning factories.