Progress and Reflection of Learning Factory

Learning factory, as an education model oriented to the real-life factory environment, can provide on-the-job learning opportunities and practical engineering experiences for learners and trainees. The rapid development of artificial intelligence such as Generative Pre-trained Transformers and the shift from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 raise more complex and varying demands on engineers’ ability to innovate. To handle these technological advancements and deployments, technical employees of an enterprise need continuously learning and upgrading for new knowledge and skills. The design and operation of the future learning factories need to consider these changes to ensure sustained operation. This paper reports the progresses of Phase I and the design of Phase II of Smart Manufacturing and Innovation Learning Factory. Phase I has an area of 4,000 square meters in a four-story building. A total of more than 800 people have been trained in the last three years at the Phase I facility mainly for pre-job and on-job training. The experiences and reflections of Phase I are discussed. The design concepts and development strategies of Phase II are articulated to facilitate the future integrated learning and training of process learning, project learning, problem learning, and digital learning to meet the training demands for supporting digital transformation. The future developments of learning factories in Industry 5.0 era are also briefly discussed.