Production Engineering Competencies in the Industry 4.0 context: Perspectives on the Brazilian labor market

Abstract Paper aims With its focus on Production Engineering, the advent of Industry 4.0 is increasingly changing the way things are done. In order to further the knowledge regarding this context as well as understand to what extent Brazil is prepared for digital transformation, this study has a twofold aim: 1) to provide a comprehensive conceptualization on competencies currently required for production engineers working in Brazilian manufacturing industries and, 2) to verify if these competencies are aligned with those established by the Brazilian Ministry of Education for engineering schools. Originality Competencies and skills currently required for production engineers have not been described and researched on a comparable in-depth level before. Research method Initially, a content analysis was conducted in order to compile the main competencies in Production Engineer job listings. Next, a chi-square analysis was performed to assess relationships between compiled competencies. Main Findings The results show that companies are increasingly requiring soft competencies beyond technical expertise, in particular, communication skills. Implications for theory and practice Academicians, educators, as well as policy makers and industry leaders can benefit from the information provided in this study.