Integrating Manufacturing Education with Industrial Practice Using Teaching Factory Paradigm: A Construction Equipment Application

The importance of leveraging manufacturing teaching and training up to the standards of the current and future needs is obvious. Recent studies have pointed out the urgent need for future engineers and knowledge workers to adopt teaching curricula in order to be prepared 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 a real-life pilot. The Teaching Factory paradigm comprises the industrial project, the relevant educational approach and the necessary ICT configuration for the facilitation of interaction between industry and academia. The current status of the paradigm is tested on a real-life pilot, between a university and a construction equipment factory. The conclusions of the pilot, show the promising nature of the Teaching Factory and the numerous benefits accruing, both for academia and industry.