A Classification Framework for Analysing Industry 4.0 Learning Factories

Learning factories offer hands-on practice for industrial environments, covering many areas, from product design to end-of-life phases. They are an effective testing ground for new products and processes, helping businesses to increase efficiency, productivity, and sustainability while providing workforce training. Using information coming from the major scientific databases, this paper provides a new classification framework for Industry 4.0 learning factories, to analyse the most relevant ones globally, with a focus on Europe and Italy and to give researchers and industrial stakeholders an overview of the activities that can be performed with them, particularly concerning learning contents and implemented technologies. The findings of the proposed analysis provide valuable insights into the more comprehensively covered topics, the overarching themes, and the existing gaps in the product lifecycle areas. The paper underlines that there is high coherence between the analysed laboratories and the Industry 4.0 requirements, with particular emphasis on the areas of production, logistics and R&D.