Towards a Learning Factory-Based Training for SMEs for Flexible Assembly Planning

Companies, especially SMEs, are currently confronted with a shortage of skilled labour. Consequently, the lack of personnel is a production-limiting factor. At the same time, the trend towards part-time work (especially among women and elderly employees) has increased significantly in recent decades. Digital technologies offer the potential to integrate part-time workers into the assembly process. Thus, equal opportunities as well as professional integration of part-time workers and thus mothers, fathers and elderly people can be promoted. The aim of the paper is to develop a learning factory-based training to teach competences for flexible assembly (planning) with the support of digital technologies. Therefore, first the results of an interview study are presented performed with representatives of interest and general managers as well as production managers of SMEs. These interviews focus on current challenges of assembly planning as well as competences necessary to implement and use the digital assistance systems and methods of assembly planning. Based on that, a didactical transformation is performed and sub-competences, required actions as well as the knowledge base are derived. On the basis of this, the learning factory-based training is developed and further evaluated with different tools.