Abstract:

In today’s highly competitive manufacturing environment, companies face the challenge of coping with large amounts of data, making accurate decisions quickly and being flexible in their production processes. In particular, the aspect of production flexibility is an important element here, since today, in modern industry, we are reaching the limit where performance, productivity, efficiency may be increased by better organization of systems and continuous improvement of production processes, and the nature of production is shaped by changes in the paradigm from mass production to on-demand production. The new approach requires building a suitable interface between the human, machines and technological devices, defined by their mutual interdependence. One of the important points of discussion with regards to Industry 4.0 is its expected effect on the employment. In the paper, the competent engineers characteristics and skills development issues have been presented. Assumption of digital production and fourth industrial revolution with current deployment state from global and Poland’s perspective has been described. The special attention has been put on emphasis role and meaning of highly educated engineers in the Industry 4.0 age.