FrED and the FrED Factory: The MIT Approach to Designing a Smart Learning Factory

Abstract

It’s hard to learn manufacturing without being in a factory. Existing manufacturing education approaches—including educational kits, machine shops, and learning factories—often fail to capture the natural variability and the flow of products, processes, and people inherent in volume production, which drive the dynamics of real manufacturing systems. This paper/thesis talks about the design and development of the learning factory at MIT, also known as the FrED Factory. FrED Factory is a fully operational factory within campus that produces and delivers manufacturing education kits, Fiber Extrusion Device (FrED), while simultaneously delivering education. The combination of a learning factory producing learning products creates a unique ecosystem of manufacturing education. The FrED and the FrED Factory ecosystem have impacted learners with authentic learning experiences. Project-based learning experiences are delivered through groups of students working to develop FrED and the FrED Factory. The products of this development, the learning device and learning factory, amplify impact by serving as platforms for manufacturing education. The FrED and FrED Factory initiative has impacted learners from K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional education at MIT and beyond.