Michael Tisch

Learning factory design: a competency-oriented approach integrating three design levels

Developing competencies of employees on all hierarchy levels is a crucial prerequisite to enable fast problem solving and adaption to changing market conditions. Action-oriented learning approaches in learning factories show promising results, though a systematic approach for the design of learning factory courses and systems is missing. This article presents such a systematic approach for the competency-oriented development of learning factories integrating the conceptual design levels ‘learning factory’, ‘teaching module’ and ‘learning situation’. The presented approach enables an effective competency development in learning factories by addressing problems of intuitively designed learning systems. As a result learning factories, teaching modules and single teaching–learning situations meeting industries’ requirements can be realised with less effort and an increased success in applied competencies in real situations.

Das Darmstädter Shopfloor Management-Modell

Kurzfassung Mehr und mehr Unternehmen setzen auf Shopfloor Management, also die Mitarbeiterführung direkt am Ort der Wertschöpfung, um die Leistung ihrer Produktion zu verbessern und Beschäftigte in Verbesserungsaktivitäten einzubinden. Dabei gibt es aktuell unterschiedliche Auffassungen darüber, wie Shopfloor Management-Systeme aufgebaut sind und Prozesse ablaufen. In diesem Beitrag wird das Darmstädter Shopfloor Management-Modell vorgestellt, welches die Ziele, Voraussetzungen und Handlungsfelder von Shopfloor Management aufzeigt und diese systematisiert.

Best Practice Examples

A broad variety of learning factories varying in size, concept, and use are built up around the globe in universities, industry, consulting firms, or vocational schools to various different topics like Lean, Industrie 4.0, or Energy Efficiency. This chapter presents 31 best practice examples demonstrating the variety and the use of learning factories.

The Life Cycle of Learning Factories for Competency Development

This chapter systematizes models and methods in the field of learning factories regarding the planning, the design, the evaluation, improvement, and remodeling of learning factories. All methods and models are structured along the learning factory life cycle starting from the customer requirements and the company goals until the remodeling of existing learning factory concepts.

Overview on Existing Learning Factory Application Scenarios

This chapter provides an overview of the ways in which learning factories are used in teaching, training, and research. In this context, the role of the learning factory for the most diverse concepts in the context of the application areas is clarified. For the different application fields and concepts, various examples from existing learning factories are given.

Competencies for Future Production

This chapter lays the foundations for important terms in the field of learning such as competences, qualifications, and knowledge as well as learning objectives and learning outcomes. Within the framework of the literature research, it is analyzed and explained which professional and overarching competencies are addressed in learning factories. A hot topic here is the identification of the necessary competencies in the context of Industrie 4.0. There are already various studies regarding necessary competencies for Industrie 4.0 that mostly identify vague meta-competencies. The challenge here is that these meta-competencies cannot serve as a basis for the development of learning factory training due to their vagueness and lack of context. As an example, it is shown how competencies can be defined for a subarea of Industrie 4.0 (the combination of Industrie 4.0 and Lean Production) that supports the learning factory developer in the goal-oriented development of learning factory offers.

Learning Factories: Concepts, Guidelines, Best-Practice Examples

This book presents the state of the art of learning factories. It outlines the motivations, historic background, and the didactic foundations of learning factories. Definitions of the term learning factory and a corresponding morphological model are provided as well as a detailed overview of existing learning factory approaches in industry and academia, showing the broad range of different applications and varying contents. Learning factory best-practice examples are presented in detailed and structured manner. The state of the art of learning factories curricula design and their use to enhance learning and research as well as potentials and limitations are presented. Further research priorities and innovative learning factory concepts to overcome current barriers are offered. While today numerous learning factories have been built in industry (big automotive companies, pharma companies, etc.) and academia in the last decades, a comprehensive handbook for the scientific community and practitioners alike is still missing. The book addresses therefore both researchers in production-related areas, that want to conduct industry-relevant research and education, as well as managers and engineers in industry, who are searching for an effective way to train their employees. In addition to this, the learning factory concept is also regarded as an innovative learning concept in the field of didactics.

Overview on the Content of Existing Learning Factories

Learning factory implementations spread in recent years around the globe, particularly in Europe. Those learning factories vary in size, purpose, scope, and sophistication targeting an enhanced learning experience for trainees from industry and academia in areas of manufacturing engineering knowledge. This chapter takes a closer look at learning content of existing learning factories. In this context, an overview on existing learning factory concepts from the content point of view is given with many examples.

Challenges for Future Production/Manufacturing

Learning factories must pick up current and future developments in production. Those developments are accompanied by economic, ecologic, and social megatrends we currently recognize. Megatrends are seen as enormous economic, social, political, and technological changes with high probability that influence our lives for many years. In the longer term, megatrends determine the direction of change regarding organizational, technological, and human-related issues. These changes in production must be addressed with groundbreaking innovations regarding production processes, products, services, and technologies. This chapter discussed most important megatrends and its implications for education and training in general and learning factories in specific.

The Variety of Learning Factory Concepts

In this chapter, the variety of the learning factory concept is illustrated by interspersing many practical examples from existing learning factories around the globe. The diversity of the existing learning factories is shown along seven dimensions of the learning factory system. Morphological models within the dimensions sharpen the systematic view on learning factory systems.