Integration of 3D Printing and Industry 4.0 into Engineering Teaching

Abstract

The rapid emergence of Industry 4.0 implies that our engineering graduates need to acquire new competences to adapt to the digital transformation. This paper evaluates the benefits of integrating 3D printing and Industry 4.0 into engineering undergraduate programs. Surveys were conducted to gather the feedbacks and views from academics and students. 75% and 86% of the participating students and lecturers, respectively, have heard about Industry 4.0. 63% of the students were exposed to modules with such elements. Tangible 3D-printed models enable visualization of fundamental theories and concepts. Enhanced 3D drawing skills and rapid 3D-printed prototypes can greatly help students study common processing equipment, manufacturing, maintenance, logistics, and operations. Some limitations were identified such as budgeting, lack of knowledge, and difficulty in changing from traditional pedagogy. This paper thus proposes a blended learning model for integrating Industry 4.0 into engineering teaching, which consists of traditional, online learning, and flipped classroom approaches. Implementation of the model can be started off with cross-multidisciplinary collaborations or expert-led training for the instructors, followed by traditional face-to-face teaching and online learning. Flipped classroom is one of the essential components of the model which encourages learning-by-making approaches such as ‘bring your own device’ and ‘do it yourself’. Integrating Industry 4.0 into engineering teaching can create a student-based learning environment, where students are gradually trained to become proactive and lifelong learners who are more conscious of the environment and economy.

Trends in engineering education for additive manufacturing in the industry 4.0 era: a systematic literature review

“…From a more strictly educational point of view, and to better answer the research question, the most representative articles are as follows. In [8][9][10] reviews on the state of AM education are presented. What emerges is a fundamental importance of this type of teaching for the adequate preparation of young engineers, especially in the mechanical and manufacturing fields [9] In addition, the presence of dedicated courses and entire specialization courses in AM (in countries such as the USA, UK and Spain) starts to be noted [8].…”

“…What we can deduce is a great interest in the dissemination of knowledge related to these issues, also dictated by specific company requests or government incentive programs [11]. Another significant point is the belief that AM or 3DP is a fundamental competence for students of mechanical and industrial engineering as it is related to product design and development and production/manufacturing in general [9,10]. Among the main advantages of learning and using AM and 3DP methods and techniques, there are the better understanding and deepening of problems, the improvement of design and visualization skills and the increase in the ability to use computer-aided design applications.…”

Fundamental Issues of Concept Mapping Relevant to Discipline-Based Education: A Perspective of Manufacturing Engineering

“…Some authors consider that manufacturing decision-relevant data, information, and knowledge must be organized using bio-inspired computational frameworks for machine learning [40][41][42][43][44][45]. From the human learning viewpoint, on the other hand, manufacturing engineering-relevant educational contents can be organized in ABET-centric means [46] or other e-learning-centric means [47,48]. No matter the intended use (machine learning or human learning), or the level of sophistication (data, information, model, knowledge, simulation, and digital twin), the manufacturing engineering-relevant contents must be represented by concept maps.…”

Adaptation of Full-Reference Image Quality Assessment Methods for Automatic Visual Evaluation of the Surface Quality of 3D Prints

“…The additive manufacturing technology, also referred as 3D printing, becomes one of the most revolutionary technology in modern industry, being one of the fundaments of the development of the Industry 4.0 solutions [1]. Such fourth industrial revolution brings together interdisciplinary areas of science and technology related to electronics, automation, robotics, mechatronics, IT, telecommunication, as well as electrical engineering and transport.…”