Challenges to prepare future generations of production engineers to work in the context of industry 4.0 in Brazil

• Grant number: 22/02260-9
• Support type: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Duration: July 23, 2022 - September 06, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Production Management
• Principal researcher: José de Souza Rodrigues
• Grantee: José de Souza Rodrigues
• Visiting researcher: Rui Manuel de Sá Pereira de Lima
• Visiting researcher institution: Universidade do Minho (UMinho), Portugal
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This is a proposal by the Engineering Faculties of Bauru (proponent) and Guaratinguetá (Prof. Dr. Jorge Muniz Júnior) and School of Engineering of Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie/SP (Prof. Dr. Milton Vieira Júnior) to investigate how to prepare the new generations of production engineers to work in the context of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which makes intensive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to integrate systems, collect, store, process and analyze large amounts of data, often in real-time, to support the decision-making process, in addition to automating on a large scale the various processes involved, whether managerial or operational. The coming of Prof. Rui Lima to Brazil aims to enable research in the Industry 4.0 area, including the collection of data that can also be used for comparative research. Prof. Rui Lima is researching the topic of Industry 4.0 with the support of two consecutive projects in Thailand funded by the European Erasmus+ Program. Since 2010, the year he came to the Faculty of Engineering of Bauru as a visiting professor, process FAPESP 2010 / 07808-5, several results have been generated in collaboration with Prof. Rui Lima such as publications, workshops, lectures at SIMPEP (the most recent in 2021) and elaboration of a research project on the topic Industry 4.0 submitted to FAPESP in 2021 (process 2021/01498-9). Professor Rui Lima cooperates in several actions with Professor Milton Vieira Júnior (Mackenzie and UNIMEP), started in 2012 with his participation as a speaker at ENCEP and as general coordinator of the first ICIEOM - ABEPRO outside Brazil (at the time Prof. was the Vice-President of ABEPRO). In 2017, Professor Rui Lima, invited by Prof. Milton, acted as a speaker at ENEGEP'2017, Joinville, Santa Catarina, ABEPRO, with the lecture "Development of Professional Skills Aligned with Industry 4.0". In 2019, Professor Milton invited Professor Rui Lima to participate in Lean Healthcare actions at UNIMEP within the scope of an ongoing project entitled "The Application of Lean Pillars in Public, Private and University Hospitals seen from the various areas of Engineering Production". With this proposal, the objective is to allow Prof. Rui shares the results of the Thai project, indicating common points of investigation and possibilities to take advantage of methodologies, instruments, learning and discoveries in a project on skills necessary for Production Engineers in the Brazilian context of Industry 4.0. This project aims to investigate what professors in the area of Production Engineering think about the subject, focusing on understanding how courses and curricula should be structured and organized to prepare the new generations for this new context. This will be a starting point to extend this research to companies and production engineering professionals. Some important questions need to be asked and answered so that universities can align their courses, faculty and infrastructure in order to offer learning environments consistent with the demands of skills and knowledge needed to design and operate productive Industry 4.0 environments. What to teach? How to teach? With what didactic and pedagogical resources? What environments should be offered? What experiences should be provided to teachers and students? As a result of this proposal, it is expected to generate a new project, considering the progress of the Thai project, the dissemination of the project in the local communities of the three units involved in the project, including the participation of Prof. Rui at ENCEP Meeting of Production Engineering Coordinators held by the Brazilian Association of Production Engineering - ABEPRO, which will serve as a platform for the dissemination of the research topic. (AU)