In the last decade, various lean learning factories were established in industry and academia around the globe. They are used for experience-based training, education, and practice-oriented research. Learning factories provide a reality-conform production environment as a learning environment. Processes and technologies of the learning factory are based on real industrial sites. Learning factories doesn't only contain single workplaces or machines, but changeable multilink value added chains. Trainees can test and discover lean approaches in this environment and experience the holistic range of technological, organizational, and social issues linked to the approaches. The main goal of learning factories is an effective competency development, i.e. the development of the participants’ ability (including motivational and emotional aspects) to master complex, unfamiliar situations. In order to reach this goal a systematic approach for the competency-oriented design of learning factory courses and systems is needed. Such a competency-oriented approach for the development of lean learning factories is presented, integrating the conceptual design levels ‘learning factory’, ‘teaching module’, and ‘learning situation’. This approach addresses issues of intuitively designed learning factories and therefore enables an effective development of intended competencies. As a result lean learning factories including teaching modules and learning situations meeting the requirements of industry can be designed with a reduced effort and an increased success in the transfer to real problem situations. Among others, a case study of designing a learning module in the environment of the process learning factory CiP in the field of "Lean Quality" is presented in detail.