Learning method design for engineering students to be prepared for Industry 4.0: a Kaizen approach Md. Zahid Hasan Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh Avijit Mallik Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, and Jia-Chi Tsou Department of Business Administration, China University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan Abstract Purpose – Underdeveloped along with developing countries face enough crisis of human resources in high- tech industries. As a result, the amount of waste is higher along with less productivity. Highly qualified and smart employees are required as the term “Industry 4.0” introduces a lot of sophisticated and complex technologies that dominates productivity. But in those countries, to cope up with this terminology; neither the educational curriculum and method of teaching has been modified nor changed yet nor will be modified soon. So, the engineering students should be introduced with the aims and technologies of Industry 4.0 and its key technologies so that they can prepare themselves as highly skilled and qualified human resources besides academic courses. Design/methodology/approach – This article mainly depicts the causes of poor technical skills of the engineering students of Bangladesh and a new learning process has been proposed. The model proposed is basically inspired by Kaizen philosophy consisting of initiation, sharing and implementation cycles. The key aspects of human resource quality and the possibility of gaining innovative human resources for smart industries are given equal priority here. The prime factor to evaluate any learning outcome is quality and this research is a structured guideline to achieve sustainable quality education needed for “Industry 4.0” to engineering students. Findings – This paper provides statistical analysis on “Fitness of undergraduate engineering students for Industry 4.0”. After applying the proposed methodology on 130 students from different public engineering institutes of Bangladesh, the significant improvement of effectiveness in learning various topics of “Industry 4.0” besides academic studies has justified the method to be a successful one measuring by the criteria for fitness of human resource. This research aims to clarify the sustainable and work-based learning goals and methods for Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (STEM) students and professional courses. Research limitations/implications – This is a research where the proposed methodology was applied upon academically enrolled engineering students and the result was very satisfactory. A sustainable learning strategy for developing professional skills from academic life can result in better productivity at the beginning of a career. However, this methodology can be applied for job holders or professionals besides their office hours thus it is the future scope of this research methodology. Originality/value – This research represents the crucial factors related to technical education and skill development for the upcoming challenges and possible remedies needed for Industry 4.0. Therefore, students Learning method design for Industry 4.0 The authors are very grateful to Prof. Dr Md. Mosharraf Hossain (Dean, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, RUET) and Prof. Dr Mhia Md. Zaglul Shahadat (Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, RUET) for their cooperation and guidelines. Research funding’s are very difficult to manage in Bangladesh. Students of the departments are trying to prepare for the upcoming high-tech industries and this research will be very helpful for them. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2042-3896.htm Received 27 July 2019 Revised 30 August 2019 11 October 2019 5 December 2019 23 January 2020 23 January 2020 5 March 2020 Accepted 15 March 2020 Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning © Emerald Publishing Limited 2042-3896 DOI 10.1108/HESWBL-07-2019-0098