The presence of augmented reality in business today is increasingly evident among industrial facilities. AR is particularly helping producers improve manual assembly and maintenance operations. AR refines manufacturing processes, leading to more sustainable and competitive decision-making.
Before diving deeply into AR in manufacturing, factory managers should rethink their infrastructure. Your overall operation will be much more effective, seamless and flexible for the future if you adopt digital transformation. By redesigning your infrastructure to be electronic and interactive, it will be easier to integrate future innovations, such as AR development.
Part of digital transformation involves training employees to be more digital-centric. Manufacturers of the future will not rely on memory or skill retention of workers to get tasks completed. IoT devices are already generating volumes of data that AI software can scan to identify immediate solutions to problems.
How AR Makes Factories More Efficient
AR empowers assemblers, machine operators, and technicians to gain access to task instructions when they have questions or difficulties with assignments. A major reason AR has experienced quick adoption among manufacturers is that it bridges the gap between digital and physical environments. It’s user-friendly technology that provides the following benefits to a factory:
Improves asset and workforce performance
Cuts operational costs on machinery and labor
Leads to higher-quality products
Accelerates delivery time
Makes deliveries more accurate and reliable
Overcoming manufacturing challenges
Some of the major manufacturing challenges ahead involve an unpredictable economy and changing workforce demographics. The pandemic has demonstrated how markets and supply chains can easily be disrupted by unforeseen disasters. But it was the manufacturers that had already undergone digital transformation that emerged as the most resilient.
Meanwhile, as manufacturing jobs become more complex, workers are alienated and move on to other jobs. That’s why it’s imperative to look at the big picture and use AR technology to help improve team-building and retain employees.
AR simplifies both training and recruiting to promote a more comfortable and stable work environment. Many skilled workers are headed for retirement as younger and less experienced individuals are moving into these jobs. Here are ways AR can improve the training and work experience on a factory floor:
Remote Access to Assistance – Employees can use mobile devices to tap into on-demand advice and on-the-job training assistance.
3D Guides – Step-by-step guides displayed in 3D visualization help workers understand equipment and their work environment better.
Diagnostic Tools – IoT sensors deliver real-time data that enables timely decision-making to improve operations.
Access to Multimedia and Drawings – Workers can tap into assignment instructions and look at drawings. AR allows for diverse use of various media, from PDFs to videos.
AR-based instructions in a manufacturing plant are much more sophisticated than traditional work manuals yet are easier to use. Work instructions can now be produced in multiple ways to provide flexibility for management and staff. Thanks to AR capabilities, employees can focus on equipment and work instructions at the same time.
Path to Adopting AR Technology
Any type of data analysis that has been traditionally performed at a factory can be monumentally improved with AR. The more complex manufacturing processes become, the greater need for AR to simplify manual labor instructions.
Using the cloud to set up remote access to useful services and applications is essential. Here are some of the priorities manufacturers should consider for embracing AR:
Select AR solutions that are easy to implement
Hire skilled technicians comfortable with new tech
Use software development kits to reuse digital assets
Implement AR for repetitive tasks
Start small with a scalable solution
Conclusion
The path to adopting AR in manufacturing should emphasize digital transformation to facilitate better digital communication. From that base of foundational technologies, factories can easily customize and scale the deployment of any future applications or solutions.
After 25 years in engineering, Johannes Beekman founded IoT Marketing with the goal of helping companies bring wide-scale awareness to their inventions. He received a Master of Science in Physics degree from the Eindhoven University of Technology, and a Master in Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and started his career in the semiconductor field. Johannes pioneered two successful wafer fab startups for Philips Electronics; one in Europe and the second one in Asia. And served as Senior Program Manager for Sematech, where he provided solutions for semiconductor industry-wide product improvement and cost reduction challenges. Johannes has also published articles on several trade-focused websites.
