TECHNOLOGY

7 Ways In Which AR Upgrades Your Manufacturing Process

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2022

7 Ways In Which AR Upgrades Your Manufacturing Process

Business leaders can deploy AR in manufacturing to streamline routine operations and create a safer workplace.

Several industries, including construction, pharmaceutical, tourism, and others have started utilizing augmented reality (AR) to enhance their business. The COVID-19 pandemic has helped in showing the true potential of AR in these industries. According to the Wall Street Journal, AR has transitioned from an interesting experiment to an essential everyday tool. The ability of AR-powered applications to impose images over the real world has allowed managers and experts to communicate and collaborate remotely. For instance, Volkswagen AG’s Porsche unit had witnessed increased usage of AR glasses in the US dealerships during the pandemic. The technology allowed technicians to perform complicated repairs on expensive sports cars with virtual help from repair experts. Similarly, many other organizations are looking to follow suit and deploy AR in manufacturing to improve business processes.

Many business leaders may feel skeptical about the applications of AR in manufacturing, considering the digital infrastructure required to deploy such solutions. After looking at the benefits offered by AR, it seems like a worthwhile investment. By implementing AR in manufacturing, businesses can reduce production downtime, identify issues instantly, and offer virtual support in real-time. AR-based solutions can speed up manufacturing operations and make them safer for employees. AR will also assist businesses in the manufacturing sector to streamline multiple operations. AR glasses and AR apps on smartphones and tablets can overlay crucial information such as stats, images, and 3D models in the real world.

Use Cases of AR in Manufacturing

Business leaders can take a look at the following use cases of AR in manufacturing:

1. Employee Training

AR can prove to be extremely helpful in training new employees through necessary procedures, protocols, and equipment. Compromising on these factors will lead to safety issues in the workplace. With AR devices and apps, new personnel can be trained through all the crucial procedures, leading to safer workplace conditions. For example, Atheer has created an AR-powered app that provides step-by-step guides, documentation, manuals, and additional resources that can assist new workers in the field. Industries such as construction and finance are already using AR to train new employees. Technical training can be a massive challenge for businesses as they need to walk new employees through expensive and complex machines or dangerous equipment. Manufacturing businesses can offer complicated technical training for new employees as well as upskilling opportunities for experienced workers with AR. Jaguar Land Rover and Bosch used the Reflekt One platform to develop an AR app that offers “X-ray” vision to train employees to locate components in the dashboard of the Range Rover Sport vehicle.

2. Shop Floor Issues Resolution

Manufacturing organizations have to regularly address shop floor pain points. Key personnel needs real-time access to important data to resolve shop floor problems. However, certain employees may not be available in the workplace due to COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions or personal reasons. In such scenarios, AR can be useful in presenting all shop floor issues to maintenance teams. Maintenance teams can also view key performance indicators in real-time and detect as well as resolve issues without obstructing production.

3. Maintenance

Columbia University researchers have developed an AR headset for the US Marine Corps mechanics for testing purposes. The results suggest that it helps mechanics in finding and starting a maintenance task in almost half of the usual required time. Generally, maintenance personnel need to refer to a technical manual on their laptop while repairing components inside vehicles, where there are several hydraulic, electric, and mechanical components in a closed space. In this situation, a US Marine Corps mechanic can wear a compact AR headset that assists with 3D arrows to point out components, instructions, floating warnings and labels, and 3D models of relevant tools. A smartphone attached to the mechanic’s wrist allows them to queue up the next sequence of instructions. Businesses in the manufacturing sector could use a similar solution for maintenance. By using AR in manufacturing, maintenance teams will be able to see specific equipment or hardware that needs servicing, and they would be able to detect potential issues. AR devices could also display operation times, potential pain points, the date of the last service, and other crucial data. Such easy access to data eliminates guesswork from the maintenance process, enabling quicker repairs, faster response times, and streamlined maintenance operations. Faster maintenance times with the help of AR will also reduce production downtime by pre-emptively identifying potential issues.

4. Efficient Logistics

Businesses in the manufacturing sector need to go through a long and tedious process for order fulfillment and warehouse organization. When an order comes in, an employee has to manually check relevant information, find products, scan products, report data, deliver products to the loading dock, and sign off the order. AR can streamline the entire logistics process. With the deployment of AR in manufacturing, employees can access a connected system that shows them the exact location of products. AR-based systems can also be used to scan necessary information, allowing employees to quickly find and retrieve products, and deliver them to the loading dock. DHL is already testing mobile AR systems in a local capacity. DHL employees who used smart glasses have shown increased productivity and reduced errors.

5. Product Design

The conventional product design process is extremely lengthy and tedious. Every new product is frequently discussed between concerned parties, and it has to go through multiple revisions. AR can reduce the time required for some of the tasks in this process. For instance, AR glasses or apps can show the product design process in real-time to directors or executives. Concerned teams would receive and implement feedback instantly, speeding up the entire process. Thyssenkrupp uses Microsoft’s HoloLens to design home mobility solutions for physically challenged people. Designing home mobility solutions can be an intricate process where the company needs a complicated system of labels, cameras, and manual data entry to make sure that all the nuances are captured precisely. The entire process that involves sales, manufacturing, and installation of, let’s say, a new stairlift requires many time-consuming processes, leading to long delivery times. With HoloLens, a salesperson can measure the staircase during their first visit and share it with the manufacturing team instantly. Customers can quickly look at and approve the design, which has reduced the delivery times by 4x.

6. Streamlined Assembly

Manufacturing companies have to put together thousands of components in complex assemblies as quickly as possible. These complicated assemblies can be performed by following specific assembly instructions. Businesses can simplify this process by utilizing AR in manufacturing. Boeing uses AR glasses integrated with Upskill’s Skylight platform to streamline 130 miles of wiring required in a new Boeing 747-8 Freighter. With the help of AR glasses, technicians receive required instructions in the viewfinder. The glasses also come with bar code reader and voice command capabilities. As a result, Boeing has managed to cut down wiring production time by 25% and completely eliminate error rates. With no room for error, Boeing ensures that its aircraft meet the highest production standards. Similar solutions can be used by manufacturing companies to significantly improve production standards and reduce production time.

7. Customer Support

Along with technicians and maintenance personnel, businesses in manufacturing can use AR to assist customers and onsite sales representatives. For example, Leybold, a vacuum pump manufacturer, has partnered with REFLEKT to deploy AR apps for onsite sales and customer support. These apps show components as well as features of a product on an iPad or HoloLens device. Customers will get an “X-ray” vision with AR apps to see various components of a pump without disassembling it. AR has incredible potential to disrupt the manufacturing sector. However, deploying AR in manufacturing is a major challenge. Business leaders need to consider the following steps for successful AR implementation:

Hire tech experts or join forces with tech consultancy service
Create strategies to deploy AR solutions
Start small by targeting a specific area of business operations
Develop a sufficient budget to invest in infrastructure
Train and upskill employees to ensure they are comfortable with using AR technology
Record results and figure out pain points that need to be worked on

As AR technology continues to develop, businesses will see even more ground-breaking applications. Big players have already started investing in AR in manufacturing for several use cases. With higher investment, developers will have sufficient funding to create advanced apps and compact devices. Eventually, AR devices will become mainstream and inexpensive as the technology continues to become more popular. It should also be noted that XR technology is developing at a rapid rate, and we could be just years away from truly immersive experiences.

Source link

Up Next

Maintaining The Integrity Of IoT Applications

Don't Miss

5 Ways To Accurately Process Data at Scale in Your Data Center

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

TECHNOLOGY

HCLTech and Cisco create collaborative hybrid workplaces

Published

4 hours ago

November 29, 2023

Max

Digital comms specialist Cisco and global tech firm HCLTech have teamed up to launch Meeting-Rooms-as-a-Service (MRaaS).

Available on a subscription model, this solution modernises legacy meeting rooms and enables users to join meetings from any meeting solution provider using Webex devices.

The MRaaS solution helps enterprises simplify the design, implementation and maintenance of integrated meeting rooms, enabling seamless collaboration for their globally distributed hybrid workforces.

Rakshit Ghura, senior VP and Global head of digital workplace services, HCLTech, said: “MRaaS combines our consulting and managed services expertise with Cisco’s proficiency in Webex devices to change the way employees conceptualise, organise and interact in a collaborative environment for a modern hybrid work model.

“The common vision of our partnership is to elevate the collaboration experience at work and drive productivity through modern meeting rooms.”

Alexandra Zagury, VP of partner managed and as-a-Service Sales at Cisco, said: “Our partnership with HCLTech helps our clients transform their offices through cost-effective managed services that support the ongoing evolution of workspaces.

“As we reimagine the modern office, we are making it easier to support collaboration and productivity among workers, whether they are in the office or elsewhere.”

Cisco’s Webex collaboration devices harness the power of artificial intelligence to offer intuitive, seamless collaboration experiences, enabling meeting rooms with smart features such as meeting zones, intelligent people framing, optimised attendee audio and background noise removal, among others.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity and the cloud from industry leaders? Check out Cyber Security & Cloud Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, HCLTech, Hybrid, meetings

Source link

TECHNOLOGY

Canonical releases low-touch private cloud MicroCloud

Published

18 hours ago

November 28, 2023

Max

Canonical has announced the general availability of MicroCloud, a low-touch, open source cloud solution. MicroCloud is part of Canonical’s growing cloud infrastructure portfolio.

It is purpose-built for scalable clusters and edge deployments for all types of enterprises. It is designed with simplicity, security and automation in mind, minimising the time and effort to both deploy and maintain it. Conveniently, enterprise support for MicroCloud is offered as part of Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro subscription, with several support tiers available, and priced per node.

MicroClouds are optimised for repeatable and reliable remote deployments. A single command initiates the orchestration and clustering of various components with minimal involvement by the user, resulting in a fully functional cloud within minutes. This simplified deployment process significantly reduces the barrier to entry, putting a production-grade cloud at everyone’s fingertips.

Juan Manuel Ventura, head of architectures & technologies at Spindox, said: “Cloud computing is not only about technology, it’s the beating heart of any modern industrial transformation, driving agility and innovation. Our mission is to provide our customers with the most effective ways to innovate and bring value; having a complexity-free cloud infrastructure is one important piece of that puzzle. With MicroCloud, the focus shifts away from struggling with cloud operations to solving real business challenges” says

In addition to seamless deployment, MicroCloud prioritises security and ease of maintenance. All MicroCloud components are built with strict confinement for increased security, with over-the-air transactional updates that preserve data and roll back on errors automatically. Upgrades to newer versions are handled automatically and without downtime, with the mechanisms to hold or schedule them as needed.

With this approach, MicroCloud caters to both on-premise clouds but also edge deployments at remote locations, allowing organisations to use the same infrastructure primitives and services wherever they are needed. It is suitable for business-in-branch office locations or industrial use inside a factory, as well as distributed locations where the focus is on replicability and unattended operations.

Cedric Gegout, VP of product at Canonical, said: “As data becomes more distributed, the infrastructure has to follow. Cloud computing is now distributed, spanning across data centres, far and near edge computing appliances. MicroCloud is our answer to that.

“By packaging known infrastructure primitives in a portable and unattended way, we are delivering a simpler, more prescriptive cloud experience that makes zero-ops a reality for many Industries.“

MicroCloud’s lightweight architecture makes it usable on both commodity and high-end hardware, with several ways to further reduce its footprint depending on your workload needs. In addition to the standard Ubuntu Server or Desktop, MicroClouds can be run on Ubuntu Core – a lightweight OS optimised for the edge. With Ubuntu Core, MicroClouds are a perfect solution for far-edge locations with limited computing capabilities. Users can choose to run their workloads using Kubernetes or via system containers. System containers based on LXD behave similarly to traditional VMs but consume fewer resources while providing bare-metal performance.

Coupled with Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro + Support subscription, MicroCloud users can benefit from an enterprise-grade open source cloud solution that is fully supported and with better economics. An Ubuntu Pro subscription offers security maintenance for the broadest collection of open-source software available from a single vendor today. It covers over 30k packages with a consistent security maintenance commitment, and additional features such as kernel livepatch, systems management at scale, certified compliance and hardening profiles enabling easy adoption for enterprises. With per-node pricing and no hidden fees, customers can rest assured that their environment is secure and supported without the expensive price tag typically associated with cloud solutions.

Tags: automation, Canonical, MicroCloud, private cloud

Source link

TECHNOLOGY

AWS and SoftwareOne collaborate on RISE with SAP

Published

7 days ago

November 22, 2023

Max

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SoftwareOne Holding AG, a global provider of end-to-end software and cloud technology solutions, have partnered to help customers transition to RISE with SAP on an AWS cloud environment.

Called the Ready for RISE on AWS bundle, it combines SoftwareOne’s deep SAP advisory and implementation knowledge with AWS technologies to expedite a client’s SAP transformation journey.

The collaboration comes at a time when there is growing pressure on organisations to decide how to modernise their SAP environments driven in part by the end of mainstream support for SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) in 2027. Despite the imminent deadline, many organisations are still confused as to which path to take, including when to adopt RISE with SAP, SAP’s bundled offering of cloud solutions, infrastructure, and services that helps migrate SAP ERP to the cloud.

Ireneusz Hołowacz, Director of Application Development Center at GAVDI Polska, said: “A stable, efficient, and cost-effective environment for consultants and programmers is one of the most important priorities of our daily work. Thanks to the migration of our SAP systems to the AWS cloud with the help of SoftwareOne, GAVDI Polska has achieved all the goals set for this process.

In a survey recently conducted by SoftwareOne with Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) – the full details of which will be revealed in January 2024 – showed that while 42% of respondents were familiar with RISE with SAP, 40% had heard of it but weren’t familiar with the details and 18% had never heard of it. Over half (52%) said they were still unsure how RISE with SAP would impact their existing relationship with cloud service providers.

“SAP customers have implemented some of the most comprehensive and complex enterprise systems in the industry and moving them to cloud services like AWS requires many important decisions to be made to optimise these investments,” says Joshua Greenbaum, Principal at EAC. “SoftwareOne’s extensive experience in the SAP ecosystem, combined with its unique capabilities around system rationalisation, cost containment, contracts and licenses, and cloud service management, among others, will provide customers deploying on AWS with the ability to make the most of RISE on SAP and other SAP offerings. Ready for RISE on AWS is an important offering for SAP customers at this critical moment in their business transformations.”

The Ready for RISE on AWS bundle will help clients understand their SAP transformation options and offer a comprehensive solution to organisations who consider RISE with SAP. It includes advisory data preparation, conversion services, data and AI, cloud innovation platform, supporting the entire journey to RISE on AWS. Clients will benefit from accelerated Return on Investment (ROI), optimal data management, and cost-saving strategies while laying the foundation for ongoing innovation and long-term business success.

Matt Schwartz, worldwide director, SAP Alliance & Partner Network at AWS, said: “As a valued AWS Premier Consulting Partner, AWS is working closely with SoftwareOne to offer SAP customers comprehensive assistance through each step of their journey to RISE with SAP on AWS. SoftwareOne’s ability to bundle Advisory, Data & AI, Cloud Platform, and Operations considerations can be of high interest to customers who are seeking to understand RISE with SAP as well as the cloud native and operation considerations that surround and support the RISE with SAP construct.”

PF Grillet, SAP Business Lead at SoftwareOne, said: “There are many choices available to SAP clients who know they need to modernise but aren’t sure of the best option, particularly given the business-critical nature of the applications.

“All of our services are centered around our customers and what is right for them. This includes supporting and optimising RISE with SAP in scenarios when it’s the right decision based on their requirements. Our extensive knowledge of and relationship with AWS means we can help them better prepare and achieve a seamless transition to S/4HANA using RISE with SAP on AWS with reduced costs and risks. This collaboration goes beyond preparing businesses for change; it’s making transformation and becoming innovation-ready a reality using AWS technologies.”

The offering includes SNP tooling to reduce a customer’s data footprint and accelerate migration. SoftwareOne will migrate selected data to an AWS data lake, accelerate innovation readiness and ensure SAP data is suitable for broader data analytics and AI use cases. Clients gain access to innovative tools like AWS’ Sagemaker for Machine Learning, continuous data management and optimisation within the AWS environment. The AWS innovation platform also includes Amazon Bedrock that helps organisations accelerate adapting Large Language Models and deploying GenAI use cases that leverage the extended data set.

“While the future innovation opportunities are exciting, clients need to balance these with a pragmatic approach to costs,” explained Marilyn Moodley, Country Leader for South Africa and WECA at SoftwareOne, “We integrate ‘Cost-Out’ recommendations into the core of our services, providing a more cost-effective solution for customers, like reducing the data footprint size and optimising storage and archiving.

“Our expertise in the complexities of SAP licensing further drives cost savings while our FinOps capabilities enable customers to optimise their AWS cloud spend and effectively manage their AWS cloud environment, ensuring full transparency in their budgets. The overall result is a significantly reduced time for RISE migration, which translates into a quicker time to value.”

Tags: AWS, partnership, SAP, SoftwareOne, transition

Source link