Smart learning factory of the future
at the Gottlieb Daimler schools

On the campus of the Gottlieb Daimler schools in Sindelfingen, unique learning conditions have been created that are second to none: A learning factory as a networked facility that maps the entire production process based on Industry 4.0 technologies is available to vocational students here. From order acceptance and order processing to production, dispatch and invoicing, the individual steps in the production process are queried and monitored via smart devices. In short, the Learning Factory 4.0 makes it possible to make the abstract concept of Industry 4.0 and smart technologies tangible for young people and skilled workers and to bring it to life as a digital transformation.

In concrete terms, this means that before a product is finished and leaves the factory, it goes through various work steps. These machining processes must be coordinated so that the workpiece can be manufactured with as few interruptions as possible. The capacity utilization of the machinery must also be reliably controlled in order to avoid production backlogs. In the smart factory, this is largely automated, as each workpiece is fitted with a chip whose data can be read out and which can provide information about the processing status.

This tells the machine or employee:in the production process how the workpiece in question needs to be processed. The chip then records the data from the machining process before the next work step is due, right through to delivery and handover to the customer.

The Learning Factory 4.0, designed by the Gottlieb Daimler schools themselves, is the district's flagship digitalization project and is a realistic representation of the new world of work described above and the principle of Industry 4.0. The vocational fields of IT, electrical engineering, coating technology, mechatronics and mechanical engineering at the Gottlieb Daimler schools work closely together to achieve this. "To ensure that the district of Böblingen remains a strong business location, it is important to continue to be innovative and take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization," said District Administrator Roland Bernhard at the launch of the learning factory. The district financed one million euros of the approximately 1.3 million euro learning factory. The remaining 300,000 euros are subsidies from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs and grants from industry.

The smart factory and a digital learning environment were set up with these resources, together known as Learning Factory 4.0. It enables learning in digital environments, learning with digital media and with so-called cyberphysical labs (CP labs), which reproduce the production steps from the learning factory and with which the pupils can work and carry out experiments in class. In the smart learning factory, it is possible for the respective production step to be both real - i.e. physically present - and digitally reproduced (cyber).

The smart factory is used for the manufacture and sale of a proprietary product, the GDS power bank. The plastic housing and circuit board layout of this power bank are in-house developments; the circuit boards are assembled, soldered and tested in the Smart Factory. The final assembly of the power bank (electronics and housing) is carried out by human hands, whereby the picking of the individual parts is supported by an IT system using Pick by Light and Pick by Information. After final assembly, the power bank is checked and defective parts are ejected. Finally, an industrial robot removes the power bank from the workpiece carrier and prepares it for dispatch.