A Two-way Knowledge Interaction in Manufacturing Education: The Teaching Factory

Future manufacturing challenges have been imposing on the current way of teaching and training the necessity to be competitive in the global market. Recent studies have shown that new teaching curricula are required for the preparation of the future engineers and knowledge workers in order for them to cope with the increasing industrial requirements of the factories of the future. The current study presents the evolution of the Teaching Factory concept and its application to two real-life industrial pilots. The Teaching Factory paradigm comprises the industrial project, the relevant educational approach and the necessary ICT (Information and Communications Technology) configuration for the facilitation of interaction between industry and academia. The Teaching Factory aims at a two-way knowledge communication between academia and industry. Both knowledge channels of the paradigm are tested, in the context of this work, on two real-life industrial pilots, among a university and a construction equipment factory as well as an industrial automation company respectively. The conclusions of both pilots show the promising nature of the Teaching Factory and the numerous benefits accrued, both for academia and industry.