Project-based Learning in Production Engineering at the Heilbronn Learning Factory

Nowadays education of production engineers has to convey professional competences and social skills alike. The paper describes the learning factory concept at Heilbronn University that isdesigned to meet these requirements. The course constitutes the predominant workload in the 6th semester, covering a wide range of industrial-like activities along the entire product engineering process. A detailed depiction of the course structure is given as well as strong evidence for its potential to improve the students’ soft skills like the ability to successfully communicate technical issues, cooperate effectively, and the general capability of putting theory into practice.