Mind the gap: Requirement engineering for learning factories with maturity model support

Technological change, based on digitalization, is happening fast and companies have to place emphasis on qualifying their employees and improve their infrastructure to be up to date. Learning Factories are adequate facilities for qualifying employees in a safe environment with proper guidance and infrastructure. However, there are three important questions in connection to handling the change in companies. The first is “How is the qualification and infrastructure status quo in a company?” The second is “Which readiness level should be achieved to handle the change appropriate?” The third is “What is the gap and how to close it in terms of qualification and infrastructure?” For answering the first question, an investigation in the company is necessary and a rating has to be conducted. Nevertheless, a standardized maturity model can help to answer this question. The maturity model also supports the answer to the second question. By using the reference table a target level can be defined. The answer to the third question is the delta between the status quo and the target level of the company's readiness investigation. The gap between the status quo and target is usually indicated by infrastructure, process, organizational and qualification improvements. Furthermore, the gap and hence the necessary improvement is the basis for training in a learning factory. Derived from the gap, the learning factory can prepare a training curriculum and the needed infrastructure to train the staff with the utmost precision.