Considerable changes are underway in practice, demands and challenges in industrial production. At the same time, today’s future engineers also display changes in preliminary knowledge spectrum, motivational backgrounds and solution attitudes. These trends suggest that existing engineering education curricula must likewise undergo changes. By nature pursuing a co-creation approach, learning factories adapt in a continuous process. Nevertheless, larger qualitative steps, addressed by major transformation campaigns, are also needed at certain points. The paper reports a rebuilding of the latter kind at the SmartFactory maintained by HUN-REN SZTAKI at the Budapest headquarters of the institute. The paper formulates needs in view of recent demands and findings in the industry and in engineering education, set into the context of available resources, as well as the research, development and education profile of the institute. Highlights of the rebuild are presented and matched with didactic opportunities, outlining an education portfolio to be gradually filled with content and refined by future findings.