- Robust computer vision that allows experiences from the widest range of target types including objects, models, images, surfaces, multi-targets, cylinders, and VuMarks.
- Cross-platform development that supports Android and iOS ARkits
- Vuforia Fusion enables easy optimization of AR experiences across a range of devices
- Seamless integration with industry-leading complementary design and modelling applications
- Broad community of developers with deep Vuforia Engine experience
The internet of things and the capability to connect to the internet suddenly brings all kinds of new implications for products and their value.The internet of things is fundamentally changing how products function and how customers derive value from them.
How the internet of things is changing products and impacting what customers perceive as product value
Products today are becoming a combination of physical components, smart components, and connectivity components. Each of the 5 layers of the IoT stack plays a role — core product infrastructure, sensor systems, connectivity, analytics, and smart applications on an IoT platform.
While all three elements — Strategy, Connected Things, and true IoT platforms — seem somewhat elemental, balancing these will be central to the success of any IoT enabled business initiative.
For instance, look at a simple product, such as the light bulb.What is the product? In this case it’s the light bulb itself.What is the value of the product? I’m not talking about the monetary value, but rather the reason, need, or problem that drives the product purchase in the first place.
You might say in this specific case, the value of the product is the light that it provides, the illumination it creates, or perhaps the extension of functional hours it delivers.
What if we were to add connectivity to the product?By using an app on a device that controls the bulb via Bluetooth connection, you could now change the color of the light remotely.You could control the function of the light bulb with the sound of your voice.You could use the products new functionality to simulate the sunrise and replace your alarm.You could even sync the bulb to reflect your fluctuating stock prices! There’s a host of applications now available – just for a single light bulb.
Revisiting the original question, evaluating your new connected light, what is the product?Is it still just the bulb? What about the app that controls it, or the device that supports the application?It’s really an interesting question to consider.It’s really an interesting question to consider.For this same connected product, let’s talk about its value.
Again, I’m not talking the connected product’s monetary value, but rather the reason the product would be purchased in the first place.Would it still be just for the light or illumination, or is it the array of colors, new features and functionality?The fact of the matter is – the value of the product has changed.The connected product now adds value in the form of light, remote control, entertainment, and even overall experience.
Products and their value are changing
As a consumer shopping for an original bulb, you were most likely looking for a certain wattage or color (such as yellow or white) – not an experience.The connected product now adds value in the form of light, remote control, entertainment, and even overall experience.
Now that products are changing and you have systems of products: an app, a bulb, connectivity; the product value changes as well.You now have the ability to look for a light that can be synced to music or sound. A light that simulates the sunrise. A light that you can control from your device.You now need to weigh product value against a slew of new price points, features, and the support the manufacturer will provide over the years.
There’s no question that the value of products is changing because products themselves are changing. We’d like to help you map out this new world.If you’d like to do anything from brainstorm potential impacts to your business, develop a full strategy for IoT at your organization, create proof-of-concepts, or implement underlying technology… you’ve come to the right place.
We’re your partner in the ever-changing world of the internet of things.
Smart devices and connected products, like the Apple Watch, raise an interesting question, what are the implications of transforming traditional products into smart connected products?
Now that we have sensors, connectivity, big data, and analytics, customers and businesses are leveraging this value to create new opportunities – here’s how.
Remote Operations
Connected products can share their data with their users, and likewise with the manufacturer, unlocking new service opportunities.
For example, I have the Nest thermostat in my house. I can adjust the temperature on my way home from work just but using a simple app control.
For a Minnesotan like me, this is pretty awesome when you experience winters like we have.
Remote Services
From a company perspective, remote access services are very valuable as well.
For example, just like a smart thermostat, manufacturers can automatically send updates to assets. Or if maintenance is required, technicians can often save time and money by remotely connecting to devices to ensure software and hardware are performing effectively. This can avoid unnecessary service calls.
Innovative Product Designs
Another great use case is how companies can change their product design strategies.
For example, IoT enables a new design strategy known as evergreen design. The premise is that when products are operating in the field, new software features can be built and delivered to a device to extend functionality and the usable life of a product. The Tesla car illustrates this concept well. Tesla actually used an evergreen design strategy to avoid a major recall.
A few years back, there were several instances in which the battery cell of the car actually rubbed against street curbs as the car turned corners, causing fires. Instead of sending all the Tesla cars back to the dealer, or a mechanic shop, the company sent a software update that automatically raised the clearance of the car chassis where the battery was located.
Tesla’s evergreen design saved the company money, as well as customer time, and money associated with a traditional recall.
Big Data Analytics
Another big game-changer in business is the value to be had from big data. Now that products can share information throughout their product development cycle and useful life, there is, in essence, a stream of data that we can collect, analyze, and use to inform all sorts of business decisions.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know when the average daily usage of your products or product segments is in decline or incline? It could drive new product innovation timelines, customer success strategies, and new revenue from cross-sell and up-sell.
Data Collection & Analysis of Consumer behavior
The practice of using big data is not new. For example, in the retail market, companies are using purchasing behavior data to inform their business decisions.
A great example comes from 2004 when Walmart conducted a big data study on customer purchasing behaviors prior to hurricanes.
What they found was surprising. A few days prior to the forecasted hurricane, people bought a significant amount of pop-tarts. In particular, strawberry pop-tarts. On the day of the hurricane, they bought more beer. Based on this data, Walmart adjusted their stock supply in anticipation of the new demand. This use case is unique in that data was originating from people’s shopping behaviors. What is different now is that we can collect and analyze data from products as well.
Remote Monitoring
Take the case of smart sports equipment. A friend I play golf with had a sensor attachment that told her about her swing, ball placement, and field location. So, as we were playing throughout the day, she was pulling out her golf app, observing her golf swing, and adjusting performance based on that data. This is great for the user, and there are also added benefits for the manufacturing company!
For example, the tennis racket company Babolat has sensors attached to their play pure drive product, which collects data about a player’s swing, the speed of their ball, and impact location.
Product to service transformation
Babolat also provides a training service, where based on the player’s performance, Babolat will provide consulting, hitting tips, and other development programs. In this use case, big data is transforming a traditionally hardware-oriented company into a service company as well.
This brings me to my last example, which illustrates a radical change in how businesses perceive product value.
Product-as-a-Service (PaaS)
Namely, products are now carriers for potentially limitless services based on how you creatively leverage their smart and connected elements. This concept is not new.
Products-as-a-Service have been pioneered in the aerospace industry.
For example, Rolls Royce licenses out their engines to airline customers, and they charge airlines for the millage of the planes as well as services associated with repair, and maintenance.
This is generally known as power by the hour. This product as a service concept is gaining a lot of attention in the IoT market.
For example, there is a big software battle for ownership of the car segment. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and the original car makers are attempting to get a slice of the services associated with cars, such as navigation, entertainment, and safety systems. This new service focus is really interesting for product development and associated business operations.
Bottomline – products are carriers of tremendous value. Now that we have sensors, connectivity, big data, and analytics, customers and businesses can leverage this value, and create new opportunities.
IoT Intro Class
At EAC, we want to make sure you don’t miss out on any revolution with respect to potential capabilities that you can add to your products- while we also realize the importance of basing your IoT initiatives around your mission statement. That’s why we created what we call our IoT Development Workshop.
We have made it our mission to help guide organizations like yours to explore and embrace the uncertainty of the emerging IoT market.
The internet of things (IoT) is a business and technology revolution. It not only enables the connection and communication with ‘things’ but allows us to manage them.
It allows our organizations to do preventative and predictive maintenance on ‘things’, do guided service on ‘things’, and create digital twins of ‘things’. It enables us to improve operational efficiency, significantly reduce downtime, and to develop new revenue streams.
What makes up the ‘Internet’ in IoT?
The internet is composed of two separate communities; the internet of people and the internet of things or IoT.
The Internet of People
First, let’s break down what we mean by ‘the internet of people.’
The internet of people has grown organically over the past 20 years and has evolved into becoming an interconnected network of billions of people. That’s right, billions. Its primary purpose is to connect people, collate information, and enable people-to-people interaction.
The internet of people allows people to connect by becoming a clearinghouse of information. People post information available to other people, generating a great deal of information that is being pumped into the cloud.
The Internet of Things – IoT
The internet of things has been growing organically for the past 10 years and has the potential to become much larger than the internet of people. Its primary purpose is to connect machines, people, and data.
The IoT also enables people-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions. In the Internet of Things, things are pumping data into the cloud so products can be monitored, controlled, optimized, and automated. During this process, information and data are streaming into the cloud from both people and things.
Combining the internet of people and things
This leads us to the internet. As mentioned earlier, the internet is the combination of internets of people and things into one integrated network. (Of course, they never were really separate, but it helps to think of them that way to facilitate the study of IoT).
Why are businesses investing in IoT?
The market for IoT is huge! Today there are over 20 billion connected devices, and that number is growing at an incredible pace. With connected devices comes a tremendous upside opportunity for IoT investments.
Through 2020, estimates are as high as 1.6 Trillion dollars! In fact, McKinsy has determined that the economic impact of IoT will top 11 Trillion dollars by 2025! The reason companies are starting to make such big investments in IoT is because so much value can be created.
How the Internet of Things is impacting product value
The internet of things isn’t about the internet – it’s all about the things. The things are what’s changing. The trend of smart connected things is really accelerating now that there’s a computer of sorts inside just about everything!
Today, according to the US government Census Bureau, there are about seven billion people on the planet Earth. About one-third of these people are connected to the internet with smartphones, tablets, and computers- yet in 2010 we hit an important milestone where there were more things connected to the internet than there were people on Earth This suggests these connected ‘things’ aren’t just smartphones, tablets, and computers anymore – they are fitness bands, thermostats, vehicles and more! This is where real innovation is happening.
Today, almost everything we have around us is capable of connecting. I’m talking about buildings, appliances, machinery, farms, hospitals, cities – all kinds of things. Now there’s a massive investment that is feeding this rapid expansion of the smart connected products – the internet of things solutions market. The IoT solutions market includes the smart connected things, the connectivity services, the software platforms and applications, the security, the analytics, and really everything related to smart connected products.

IoT Development Workshop
At EAC, we want to make sure you don’t miss out on any revolution with respect to potential capabilities that you can add to your products- while we also realize the importance of basing your IoT initiatives around your mission statement. That’s why we created what we call our IoT Development Workshop.
We have made it our mission to help guide organizations like yours to explore and embrace the uncertainty of the emerging IoT market.
Evaluating potential Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for manufacturing can quickly become overwhelming when you consider testing out product trials and going over pricing details.
A new IDC Report, How AR Drives Real-World Gains in Service, Training, Sales & Marketing, and Manufacturing, states, “AR technology is here and now, and companies of all shapes and sizes are utilizing it to change the way work gets done and to drive better outcomes.”
This article talks about the top proven industrial Augmented Reality Solutions and exactly what they can do for your industry.
The most widely used platform for AR development: Vuforia Engine
Today, over half a million developers have chosen the advanced performance and cross-platform reach of Vuforia Engine, making it the most widely used platform for AR development on the planet.
Why is this considered to be the most flexible tool for AR development? Because it delivers robust and precise AR experiences in a variety of environments. This AR Engine is a powerful cross-platform software enabling branded AR experiences for both new and existing applications to be deployed in leading app stores.
It lets developers freely build branded AR experiences for new or existing applications and supports AR devices such as phones, tablets, headsets, and smart glasses across leading platforms to reach the largest audience.
By using Vuforia Engine, developers can easily add advanced computer vision functionality to Android, iOS, and UWP apps, to create AR experiences that realistically interact with objects and the environment.
The Vuforia Engine Library also contains technical documentation to help developers be successful as they create AR applications.
With Vuforia Engine, AR developers can harness best-in-class computer vision capabilities, to detect and launch a variety of target types. This AR engine also is equipped with broad support for leading modeling platforms and user applications.
Features and capabilities of Vuforia Engine
Vuforia Engine comes with many distinguishing features and capabilities. These include:
Discover all of the unique features of Vuforia Engine here.
What are Vuforia Engine applications used for?
Vuforia Engine AR applications are best used for:
- High-end production of custom AR applications
- Developing customer facing applications that require superior product values
- Experiences that require sophisticated and flexible target recognition
- Elevating brands with complementary apps
- Integration with industry-leading design and modeling application
The best AR Authoring Solution: Vuforia Studio
Vuforia Studio is an Augmented reality authoring solution that lets you quickly build scalable AR experiences. Vuforia Studio is an augmented reality authoring solution that helps you rapidly build AR experiences.
Vuforia Studio enables efficient, cost-effective authoring of industrial AR without the need for in-depth programming or skilled programmers.
This AR solution helps designers, engineers, and technical publication end users author and publish scalable AR experiences that transform manufacturing, service, and training processes.
You can now experience features from the tool that have a robust and visual interface – easy for design file importing and ubiquitous viewer support.
How does Vuforia Studio work?
Vuforia Studio is a drag-and-drop authoring environment that enables industrial content creators to use existing 3D CAD and animated sequences.
This AR authoring tool leverages real-time IoT and business systems data and allows users to access and view experiences from a single app.
Its simple, easy-to-use drag and drop interface allows content creators with no prior coding knowledge to get up and running quickly.
Vuforia Studio features and capabilities
Distinguishing AR features and capabilities that come with Vuforia Studio include:
- Visual authoring environment
- Easily import CAD and animated sequences
- Native support for IoT data
- Scales to support global AR deployments
- Certified support for hosting and on-premise deployments
- Powerful spatial and model tracking
- Out-of-the box support for mobile and head worn devices, including Microsoft HoloLens and HoloLens 2
What are Vuforia Studio applications used for?
Vuforia Studio is best used for:
- 3D digital content overlaid on real-world equipment to provide contextual knowledge
- Rapid development of immersive training and instruction content
- Reusing existing CAD models and sequences to create step-by-step work instructions
- Visualizing real-time IoT data to provide operating conditions and equipment performance
- Full-scale visualizations that enable walking around and seeing products
- Accurate identification of spare parts
- Scaling across products, configurations, devices, and geographies.
The Best AR Remote Assistance Software: Vuforia Chalk
Vuforia Chalk is a powerful AR remote assistance and guidance application that helps experts and technicians solve problems more effectively.
You can think of it as an easy to deploy, mobile-based guidance and collaboration AR tool.
Vuforia Chalk enables pairs of mobile device users to collaborate around a shared view of objects and environments, with smart 3D annotation capabilities.
This allows senior experts to virtually share knowledge with junior colleagues and removes geographical barriers to collaboration. Picture this – if you’re a service technician in Nebraska, you can be helping someone located in Oklahoma just with the power of your fingers on your mobile device using the Vuforia Chalk app.
Vuforia Chalk combines advanced augmented reality with real-time communications to connect a field technician with an expert so that the expert can see and discuss the situation in the field.
With this powerful AR remote assistance application, a technician or an expert can draw digital annotations (using one’s finger on the screen) that accurately anchor to physical objects, allowing the expert to guide the technician through the process, step-by-step.
It allows experts and technicians to accurately markup live views, highlight details, and guide multi-step solutions.
Essentially, this AR tool empowers field technicians with instant “over the shoulder” field support to finish every jobs and tasks without delay.
The software helps organizations increase service quality while reducing repeat maintenance or repair visits – providing frontline workers with access to service information in a completely modern way.
Vuforia Chalk makes it easy to guide service and troubleshoot situations that may not be covered in training or service manuals.
Vuforia Chalk features and capabilities
Vuforia Chalk is paired with many distinguishing features and capacities that include:
- Zero development requirements- this AR tool can be provisioned in minutes and used immediately
- Connection links – Chalk users can connect with mobile devices using a video link. This allows the users to share views of the equipment or environment. Each user can draw on their screen to annotate the shared view.
- Advanced annotation that can be locked onto targets- this allows users to move around objects and annotations with 3D spatial recognition.
- Chalk views can be paused- this allows user to easily draw multi-step instructions over objects.
What are Vuforia Chalk applications used for?
Vuforia Chalk makes it easy for remote experts to provide remote over-the-sholder guidance to speed troubleshooting. Using either a mobile device or tablet, remote experts can connect to technicians and annotate on their shared view.
Vuforia Chalk is best used for:
- Enabling remote, virtual assistance between technicians and experts
- Collaboration between physically dispersed colleagues and teams
- Building lightweight AR pilots that prove value fast without development resources
Transform work instructions with Vuforia Expert Capture
Vuforia Expert Capture is the fastest and easiest way to create step-by-step instructions that help frontline workers get their job done accurately and efficiently.
Vuforia Expert Capture gives content creators and subject matter experts step-by-step instructions with rich media content, text, and audio to improve workforce productivity, quality, safety, and compliance.
It is an out-of-the-box AR solution that features drag and drop AR content creation for industrial enterprises looking to rapidly document expert knowledge and then easily scale that knowledge to new or redeployed workers as hands-on training or task guidance.
This tool provides an easy way for experts in your organization to record video procedures and instructions to others using augmented and assisted reality.
Features of Vuforia Expert Capture
There are many distinguishing features and capabilities of Vuforia Expert Capture some of which include:
- The ability to rapidly author AR instructions without CAD data, pre-existing assets or development efforts.
- Easy to use templates that simplify and accelerate creating and publishing AR content
- Content editing and publishing is in a secure, web-based environment
- The ability to automatically deliver optimized content across a variety of supported devices.
What are Vuforia Expert Capture applications used for?
Vuforia Expert Capture is best used for:
- Capturing procedures and tasks from senior experts
- Servicing and working with factory floor machines that lack relevant CAD data, or instances where documentation is unavailable or of poor quality
- Documenting multi-step procedures that take place in multiple locations
- Ensuring compliance through documentation of standard operating procedures (SOPs)
Why use Vuforia products?
Vuforia makes AR content easy to create and deliver widely to the enterprise to help improve efficiencies, reduce downtime, and enable safer and more productive workers.
With the industrial Vuforia AR platform, organizations can build custom experiences from the ground up, or rapidly create and scale enterprise-ready industrial AR experiences without writing any code using Vuforia Studio.
Whether the requirement is a custom solution or the ability to deliver rapidly, Vuforia delivers powerful, game changing industrial AR technology.
Looking to to get started with AR? Contact us.
If you…
- Need help evaluating potential manufacturing AR solutions, product trials and pricing details
- Are ready to learn how to transform your operational efficiencies, output, and quality with AR
… then get in touch with a Vuforia AR Specialist to answer questions and schedule your demonstration. Our AR experts can help you take the next step in your journey.
This is a guest blog written by Jonathan Lang from PTC – you can find the original blog post on PTC.com.
While augmented reality (AR) and computer vision technology are making it possible to wear digital clothing, the concept of a digital thread offers a powerful new framework to unlock data accessibility and add new analytical and decision-making capabilities to your business.
The digital thread is proven to drive speed, agility, and efficiency in the products, operational processes, and related worker tasks.
Let’s take a look at how:
What is a digital thread?
Digital threads seek to create homogeneity and simple universal access to data. They follow a single set of related data as it weaves in and out of business processes and functions to create continuity and accessibility.
A digital thread can be created for many different entities and processes. Most commonly, a thread of a product follows the lifecycle from design inception through engineering and product lifecycle management, to manufacturing instructions, supply chain management, and through to service histories and customer events.
This thread enables enterprises to anticipate and effectively communicate bi-directionally up and down stream of where the product is in its lifecycle, ensuring all participants utilize the most current data and can react quickly to changes or new insights.
Similar threads are emerging for entire operational environments and processes – and even worker tasks and workflows – due to the prevalence of digitization across the value chain driven by technologies like IIoT, AR, MES, and others.
Why do I need a digital thread?
Data discovery accounts for a lot of workers’ time. Integration of disparate information systems in retrospect is costly and jeopardizes goals, deadlines, and market opportunities. A 2018 study by IDC of more than 400 professionals who work with data found that 37% of the time they spent ‘getting to insight’ was searching for information, while only 27% was used for analysis.
In the age of digital transformation, new data challenges have emerged, and digital threads offer a solution to improve the speed and agility of enhanced decision-making promised by all of this data. They’re about removing bottlenecks and improving transparency and accuracy of critical business information across the value chain.
How do digital threads enable digital twins?
While there are benefits to this continuity across related data sets and activities, the advanced versions incorporate physical world sensor data through IIoT capabilities or through the use of physics-based ‘virtual sensors’. Utilizing these physical world proxies of products, processes, and even people and their workflows, AI algorithms can test potential scenarios to find optimization opportunities for a variety of outcomes.
When a digital thread or ‘definition’ of a product or process is applied to a 2D or 3D graphical proxy and real-world data is modeled against it, this is referred to as a digital twin. Digital twin use cases include predictive maintenance and service for products and operational intelligence across an industrial environment.
To achieve a digital twin, a digital thread must first be established. Digital thread is predominantly used to unify and orchestrate data across the lifecycle of a product, from original design, to engineering, manufacturing, operation, and service. This enables product manufacturers to analyze a holistic data set, and ensures that functions across the organization are always working with the most up-to-date information.
With the widespread adoption of IIoT technology, connected worker technology like augmented reality, and increasingly sophisticated MES and supply chain networks, digital threads are quickly expanding beyond products to be the connective tissue enabling operational insights. Woven together into a holistic view of an enterprise across many interrelated processes and functions, the relationship between multiple digital threads is referred to as a digital fabric or mesh.
Even today, digital mesh is forming all around us and will be the foundation upon which we architect and orchestrate digital experiences in the physical world in the future.
To learn more about digital twins, read our blog on how digital twins improve future innovation and product development.
There are many benefits of AR (Augmented Reality or Assisted Reality) and digital work instructions, but the idea of digital transformation can seem overwhelming. This article talks about why many organizations are starting to consider digital work instructions, and the benefits augmented reality (AR) can bring.
As organizations begin to deploy applications at scale, they often realize that AR presents both opportunities and challenges. Creating compelling AR experiences for an enterprise has historically been difficult, limiting the reach of how much and what can be deployed.
Despite the occasional challenges, organizations continue to explore the new possibilities and value AR can bring to service, operations, engineering, and manufacturing.
For starters, if you’ve made a heavy investment in technical publications or technical documentation, odds are you have a lot of content in a multitude of systems and formats such as Arbortext, DITA, or even S1000D. This has most likely occurred over a long period of time and leveraged a lot of resources.
With all the resources, time, and energy put into your technical publications the idea of ‘going digital’ or moving towards ‘digital work instructions’ can be daunting.
So why is there currently so much ‘hype’ about pairing Augmented Reality with service or manufacturing, and what benefits can it bring to your organization?
Well… there are a lot of reasons for taking on digital work instructions, or even hands-free work instructions, that can be projected by a head-mounted tablet, a headset, or even an iPad or cellular device. And quite frankly, there are a lot of practical applications throughout an enterprise that can benefit from up to date content delivery and process/quality control.
Augmented Reality relates to the new workforce
If you look at manufacturing plants, assembly facilities, and at the service world as a whole – these groups of people are aging. This means that the manufacturing skills gap is widening.
In fact, there’s quite a bit of turnover happening which is starting to make it difficult for organizations to find competent, qualified replacements.
Studies show that over the next decade, due to economic expansion and the surge in baby boomer retirement, nearly 3.5 million industrial jobs will be needed, and 2 million are expected to go unfilled.
For instance, if you look at an aircraft assembly worker today, most are going to be older guys and gals. They’re used to doing things with physical resources (such as paper for example).
But if you’re looking to replace one of these retiring workers, your replacement is most likely going to be someone used to consuming his or her information through technology devices like iPads or mobile phones. A bonus, however, is that these individuals are more likely to be very open to new technology such as a head-mounted tablet.
The fact is, in most cases, we are talking about entirely different generations of our workforce. The way they consume, process, and work with new information will be entirely different than veteran-ed workers.
It is in your best interest to get these new-aged workers up to speed as quickly as possible. An excellent way to do that is to use delivery methods familiar to younger generations.
This is one of the many reasons companies have begun to explore augmented reality (AR).
Best-in-class organizations realize the benefit of investing in ways to get new workers up to speed as quickly and efficiently as possible.
AR for field service
Many organizations see “field service” as an excellent starting point to implement AR. There are a lot of time savings for service personnel when you go from paper to digital. This is why companies across the board have made the decision to go into a paperless environment.
The upside of AR is readily apparent when inspecting how someone attempts to execute specific detailed tasks on a shop floor. This almost always involves going back to paper instructions which in turn, takes time and wastes a whole lot of resources; hunting for documentation, going to-and-from workstations to document cabinets, etc. This compounds as workers switch tasks.
Augmented Reality provides cross reference materials
By simply enabling a workforce to digitally access resources, an organization can save time, proactively improve processes, and more effectively manage quality.
Augmented Reality allows workers to very quickly and efficiently cross-reference material and pull up related images, user guides, bulletins, and other content. All without leaving a workstation or job site.
For example, if a service technician was to get lost while using a paper instruction manual and he or she didn’t know the next step, AR provides a solution.
With an augmented experience the service technician can link directly back to technical information to read further into a problem that perhaps wasn’t included on the paper instruction manual or was somewhere else.
AR helps track detailed project status
Because AR is simply a delivery mechanism, it can be configured to interact with multiple databases and content sources. Project and task authentication and sign-off requirements can be delivered to workers through their devices but managed digitally at the edge or within discrete systems.
This means there’s a detailed digital trail of the work that’s been done and being done by each individual service technician.
Therefore, if a service task were to get interrupted, someone else on the team could pick up where the previous technician left off – knowing that the all the steps in the work instructions have been completed and signed off by the last worker.
Process and quality control benefits of AR
Some AR solutions even provide the added benefit of recording the time taken to complete a specific step or entire task. It provides insight into possible areas for training or process optimization.
In other words, it can help an organization notice discrepancies between expectations and execution – ‘as written’ and ‘as executed.’
You open the door to many closed-loop quality control improvements when you have insight into, and a digital signature on every completed task.
Hands-free work environment
Both head-mounted tablets and phones can be operated in a hands-free environment.
Handheld devices scan activated QR codes to read instructions. This allows operators to maneuver hands-free while the instructions are being read to them.
By using a head-mounted template environment, you can verbally communicate with the instructions on the head-mounted tablet without ever having to look away from work, or wake up a tablet or phone.
The return on investment for AR
The upfront costs are often the most expensive part of this piece of this digital transformation journey. Whether implementing a full-scale enterprise deployment or a proof-of-concept, you’ll often need to lay the same foundation of supporting technology. But it is worth it.
Talk with us if you’d like help figuring out a ballpark investment to get AR going at your company.
The ROI is tangible and real. For instance, AR solutions can easily save a $60,000 fully loaded resource 8 to 12 minutes a day by replacing paper and disjointed processes. That turns into four hours a month, forty-eight hours a year. That’s more than $1,300 per year in savings for every worker. The ROI quickly goes up proportional to the number of users added to the system.
Conclusion
I’ve made my case. But it doesn’t change the challenge I brought up at the beginning of this article. Moving, converting, and re-authoring legacy technical documentation is daunting…
Or is it?
We have a solution. It’s called AR Instruct™. Watch the video below to get an idea of what it is and how it could help you.
AR Instruct™ is an application that takes an existing product, assembly, service, and other technical information (in formats like DITA, XML, Arbortext, S100D, etc.) and dynamically transitions it to be displayed in a digital work environment. We aren’t talking about publishing a PDF on an iPad either.
AR Instruct™ publishes fully interactive experiences complete with voice commands, step management, graphic viewers and all.
You should do two things after reading this article – 1) Request a demonstration and 2) Forward this on to the people in your organization responsible for publishing and managing work and service instructions.