Industrial Engineering Programs are changing in the world pushed by technological trends, competitive pressures and new theoretical paradigms like Smart Advance Manufacturing, Cyber-physical Factory Design and other Industry 4.0 approaches.

This work starts with a primary assumption: Learning approaches in engineering must to be applied in a different way before changing the contents of courses or the whole program.

This work define two primary pedagological strategies to be aligned with needs and trends in the industry: the project based learning (PbL) and the problem solving based learning (PSbL); using a study case research method.

Conclusions can be separated on two analytical dimensions: 1-Significative Learning for life and 2-Technical Skills for Industrial Engineering Design. In the dimension number 1, PbL and PSbL must to be articulated between them and linked with real life situations. These should be essentially applied in a multi-disciplinary environment and with a strong follow up in order to get practical results. On the other hand, for technical skills reinforcement, PSbL must be mandatory and PbL a practical way in order to aim goals with pragmatism and tangible results orientation.

In both analytical dimensions, the use of industrial standards and technical training needs should drive the learning objetives.