In this article we analyze three manufacturing organizations' manifested expressions of different workplace initiatives related to industry 4.0. Key representatives in these organizations raise their concerns regarding changed content and forms of work as an answer to increased automation and digitalization. The wave of industry 4.0 includes smarter industrial solutions such as internet-based networks so that organizations can use connectivity of machines that can tie product development and continuous data productionwith the factory environment in new ways. Hence, the industrial work environment is under restructuring and industrial companies' work conditions are being transformed. In this article we ask the question: How do industry practitioners that currently are engaged in the transformation processes related to industry 4.0 initiatives perceive their work? Based on interviews with key representatives of three global manufacturing companies we will discuss 73 implications for industrial work-integrated learning (I-WIL) that takes into account the companies' transformative need to rethink their industrial operations and learning mindsets. We found that the introduction of disruptive digital technologies drastically changes the companies' operations. Leaders' management needs to be synchronized with practitioners' new work situations and their learning opportunities.