Transition towards an Industry 4.0 State of the LeanLab at Graz University of Technology

The Institute of Innovation and Industrial Management operates a learning factory (LeanLab) since 2014 to enhance academic education, company trainings and hands-on research in the fields of industrial engineering and logistics. The aim is to enable practice oriented learning in an environment close to industrial reality for facilitating effective knowledge-transfer. An extension with state of the art technologies relevant for future manufacturing sites is currently planned. Learning factories are suitable platforms for applying, testing and spreading technologies and should thus guarantee better and more targeted technology-development and transfer. Moreover, training sessions for workers will be designed to prepare them for the Industry 4.0 environment in the factory of the future. These trainings will focus on the development of the skills and qualifications necessary for workers to cope with the increasing complexity in industrial environments. This paper presents the actual state of the LeanLab and illustrates the next concrete steps towards an Industry 4.0 learning factory.