Cyber Physical System for Reconfigurable Learning Factories: Combining 3D Simulations, Reconfigurable Layouts and Real-Time Locating Systems

Learning Factories are educational environments that replicate manufacturing environment operations, providing next-generation engineers with hands-on learning opportunities. University-based Learning Factories may encounter barriers in supporting a wide range of learning courses with different intended learning objectives and outcomes that impede their successful implementation and can prevent valuable learning experiences. Overcoming these barriers requires dedicated efforts to enhance the infrastructural capabilities of the Learning Factory to become multi-use, invoking better flexibility and reconfigurability of the layout besides utilization of value-enhancing technologies. For this purpose, this work investigates the learning opportunities to enable data-driven layout reconfigurations by fusing 3D simulations with Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS). The seamless integration of these digital solutions provides accurate tracking and modeling of whichever manufacturing entity. Mirroring physical systems configurations into digital environments triggers learners to better analyze process functioning and performances. This digital solution is even more effective into modern mass-customized markets, where batch-centered production processes require easy-to-deploy and iterative layout optimizations. The findings of this empirical study support the transformative potential of achieving reconfigurable layouts alongside RTLS and 3D simulation technologies within a Learning Factory. This integrated approach is not limited to enhancing capabilities and operational efficiency but also provides a wider and multi-dimensional array of educational experiences, bridging the gap between academia and an ever-evolving manufacturing landscape.