Universities around the world are teaching PLM following different strategies but most of them are limited to design applications. This paper presents a didactic manufacturing plant where design and production are managed in a PLM environment. During the course, students are exposed to the complexity of managing the production of a modular chess set while at the same time they are asked to fulfil design requirements and meet production, quality and cost goals. Course description and the achieved results are analysed thoroughly. This is the first step to realise a 'learning by doing' modular course in smart factories: future practitioners must be skilled in this theme, which plays a key role for the worldwide competition. The path towards such a course is also presented.