Development and implementation of Industry 4.0 scenarios in a virtual and collaborative teaching environment

Abstract

Digitalization and Industry 4.0 have led organizations to adopt technology-driven approaches in various business segments. Integrated environments in organizations mandate the requirement of having in-depth knowledge of process, data and technology integration. This is also a requirement for organizations to develop towards sustainability, as data-driven business models can help to reduce waste and increase efficiency. Hence, universities have to provide skills in Industry 4.0 and in developing integrated systems across companies. Furthermore, online learning methods are required to prepare students for distributed teams in global industries. Consequently, you need a holistic approach to teach integrated thinking and working in distributed teams at the same time. The problems addressed by this paper are how to teach complex and heterogeneous aspects of Industry 4.0 concepts and how to integrate data-driven business processes. The paper describes didactic solutions with reduced complexity in a fictitious company to understand interrelationships between business segments in end-to-end processes. A virtual teaching concept encourages the exchange between students in distributed teams. Empirical runs of the concept show that students develop own approaches, learn to estimate the complexity of integrated systems and develop practical skills to find suitable solutions in a value-adding network. 

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