Teaching industry 4.0 – product data management for small and medium-sized enterprises

Industry 4.0 is the next step to autonomous products, productions and processes, which have the ability to communicate with each other, collect information about their environment and their influences. Especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are challenged with the implementation of Industry 4.0 because of resource scarcity. Industry 4.0 does not have to be developed completely new, but are based on existing products. However, the expansion to a communicable product generates new product data, which needs to be managed and organized with the use of a Product Data Management (PDM) system. With the workshop “Learning to Handle Product Data! – Product Data Management in the context of Industry 4.0” from the Institute of Product Development of the Leibniz Universitat, Hannover participants with different and to the instructor unknown professional backgrounds and expectations learn about the impact of Industry 4.0 on the product development and have the possibility of exchange. The following article presents the course of action and the teaching concept. Afterwards, a participant’s exercise is presented, followed by the evaluation of the workshops in 2017.