Enhancing Learning Experience in Physical Action-orientated Learning Factories Using a Virtually Extended Environment and Serious Gaming Approaches

Development and implementation of new paradigms such as cyber-physical as well as lean and green production systems lead to higher degrees of system dependencies and complexity. Learning factories are a possible solution to convey the knowledge for new paradigms. Since exclusively physical learning factories provide a realistic learning experience on a low level - including product, machine and process view - new paradigms require an extended system perspective. To enable learners to understand how changes to production systems might not only affect neighboring production systems, but also building services, maintenance activities, up- and downstream supply chains and even product life cycle, the authors propose a virtually extended environment tightly intertwined with the physical learning factory. Embedded in a business game, the learners interact within the hybrid physical-virtual learning factory. Technical and organizational changes can be applied to the learning factory to solve given tasks. To overcome physically limited possibilities, these changes might not only be physical, but also virtual. Subsequent long-term simulations ascertain how changes affect key figures on management and supply chain level.