Even a leading industrial nation and global export champion such as Germany needs to continuously question its ability to face the future and react quickly to emerging changes. A comprehensive transition is currently underway with the omnipresent digitization of production processes, now commonly known as Industry 4.0. This is leading to an increased demand for skilled professionals with an academic background and practical experience. Hannover University (HsH) - long since known for its state-of-the-art teaching with a keen hands-on approach and commitment to industry-based training – is keeping abreast of this development. With its "Industry 4.0 model factory", inaugurated on January 12, 2018 in the presence of the State Secretary for Arts and Sciences in Lower Saxony, Dr. Sabine Johannsen, the HsH is increasingly gearing its teaching toward the future.

"It isn't possible to teach the knowledge necessary for digitization using a blackboard and chalk alone. Students need access to the real systems found in industrial production," explained Prof. Karl-Heinz Niemann, one of the new laboratory's founding members. "In the Industry 4.0 model factory, we have replicated the production of correctly-filled hospital medicine trays," added Prof. Joachim Imiela during the tour of the plant in operation. The whole process including its intermediate sequences, starting with the medical personnel entering a fictitious medicine dosage on a tablet PC right through to delivering the medication to the patient, is digitally executed and fully geared toward Industry 4.0 concepts. The underlying aim is to familiarize students with all the specific process requirements for harnessing the potential of digitization in the future.

Hannover University, Faculty I Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (30459 Hannover, Germany)
Website: www.hs-hannover.de/oem