In recent years, European manufacturing companies have consistently faced a wide range of complex challenges, primarily driven by external factors. These include intensified global competition, significant shifts in customer behavior, the volatility and fragility of international supply chains, ongoing demographic changes, evolving societal views on labor's role, and a growing demand for structured, professional approaches to employability. Considering these developments, well-founded, competence-based, transparent, and modular teaching and learning approaches can play a vital role in shifting from reactive education models to proactive, future-oriented educational strategies, tailored to meet the evolving demands of smart and sustainable operations management in the manufacturing sector. This paper demonstrates the systematic development and realignment of an engineering study course based on empirical competence profiles developed using qualitative and quantitative data from industrial engineering and management professionals in Europe. Thereby, a special emphasis is placed on smart and sustainable competences in operations management.