By investing in RealWear HMT-1 hands-free headsets equipped with Microsoft Teams, Mars Petcare found the perfect complement to its vision for more productive workplaces. Effortless, hands-free, and safer collaboration tools remain key to helping firstline associates at Mars Petcare become true equipment owners, making factories more productive and reducing travel and downtime due to maintenance.

Supporting autonomous maintenance with purpose-built technology

As Global Autonomous Maintenance Pillar Leader at Mars Petcare, one of David Oswald’s many responsibilities is autonomous maintenance. “As part of our Mars Supply Excellence program, we train and support our firstline teams to become true equipment owners responsible for the long-term reduction of losses. Our goal is to free up time on the shop floor to do the proactive work and make sure the equipment stays in a healthy condition.”

Through autonomous maintenance, Mars trains firstline associates to perform straightforward maintenance and preventative steps that keep equipment running like new—and keep factories at their most productive. The goal is for more streamlined factories and greater efficiency. “We say stop the stops,” says Oswald. “We target the short stops, such as resetting a machine or clearing a jam. We want an operator to run 240+ minutes without any intervention on their machine.”

Part of Oswald’s role requires finding the right technologies to support the Mars Supply Excellence program. To make collaboration effortless, he looks for highly mobile, hands-free devices designed specifically for the noisy, high-traffic reality of a manufacturing facility. That’s where RealWear hands-free headsets and Teams comes in, providing firstline associates on the factory floor tools that connect them to maintenance experts instantly for troubleshooting and training.

Teams on Realwear uses Teams meetings to power remote communication between HMT-1 users and their office-based colleagues. “The fact that the RealWear device works with Microsoft Teams was a big selling point for us,” says Oswald. “This allows us to connect associates on the shop floor with large numbers of people and collaborate in real time. Plus, the noise-canceling aspect of the ProBuds hearing-protection headphones and the hard-hat make it safe and ideal for the kinds of environments we work in.”

Other topics addressed in detail in the article include

1. Keeping associates more safe and secure with the right tools
2. Training and educating associates to drive efficiencies with new productivity tools
3. Saving travel time and supporting sustainability

Read the whole article online at Microsoft

See RealWear’s AREA member profile 

See Microsoft’s AREA member profile 

Designing 3D experiences often requires coding knowledge from games development. Therefore, MetaVRse developed the platform to allow a virtual world to exist with ease of editing. Although the platform is described as a “3D web game engine and spatial design creator tool”, users in any enterprise or industry can invent their own virtual environment.

Alan Smithson, CEO of MetaVRse, has explained that their no-low code approach enables any user to participate in creating. The platform operates on every system, browser, and device, with no need for different versions or apps, and without code.

After launching in June this year, MetaVRse has since announced partnerships to increase availability for training, marketing, and showrooms. The platform has partnered with programs from the following companies:

• AREA Member Qualcomm 
• Nvidia
• Autodesk
• Oculus
• Founders Factory
• Creative Destruction Lab

MetaVRse applications will soon be deployed in more enterprise sectors. Low technical requirements are expected to encourage creators to adopt AR. Julie Smithson, Co-founder and Chief Learning Officer, has said that MetaVRs has “opened the door” to creators by removing the need to code.

Read the full article here.

XMReality’s software is used on smartphones, and allows remote technicians to share a view with customers. It also provides overlays and drawings over the real-time view, giving visual instructions on identifying and repairing problems. As well as preventing the need for on-site visits, the Zebra headset also allows for a hands-free experience.

The partnership between Zebra and XMReality demonstrates the increasing connectivity between data hubs and frontline workers via wearable AR technology. Remote employees can access both warehoused data and human expertise with the technology. XMReality’s camera system adapts any Windows computer into a guidance station for remote workers. Its software also supports industrial AR glasses from other AREA members Vuzix and RealWear.

The HD4000 Enterprise HMD (head-mounted display) is also supported by XMReality’s remote guidance software. Weighing only 1.06oz, the HMD is equipped with a 9-axis head tracking sensor for user tracking, uses a 5-megapixel camera to capture field imagery, and has a colour screen to display graphics, video content, and text. The HMD is designed for applications in the following sectors:

• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Warehouse management
• Field mobility

Read the full article here.

Recent surveys reveal how COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation. ComputerWeekly released the following statistics:

• 89% of CIOs report that digital transformation within their company has accelerated; 58% claim it will continue to grow in 2021
• 79% are reinventing their business model
• 99% believe that economic growth can flourish from using digital manufacturing technologies; 90% are planning to evolve their business models due to the current business environment
• COVID-19 has increased digitisation of customer interactions by years, according to a study from October this year – the number increased from 33% in December 2019 to 58% in July 2020, equating to a 3-year acceleration based on previous trends

Key frontline technologies currently involved in strategies for digital transformation are:

• Augmented Reality: This technology allows workers to work together remotely, which is especially useful for training. Earlier this year, PTC and Rockwell Automation started to offer Vuforia Chalk, remote assistance platform, for free. The AR tool enables factory workers to connect with remote experts to discuss technical issues while sharing a view. PTC has seen AR boost productivity by 50% and reduce errors by 90%. Examples include global engineering company Howden leveraging Chalk to release a standardised program to units internationally, and GlobalFoundries using Vuforia Expert Capture to record and deploy instructions. AR also aids marketing and sales, bridging the gap between customers and professionals.
• Industrial Internet of Things: IIoT provides opportunities such as workforce tracking, remote asset control, and remote collaboration, ensuring security and safety for employees. 93% of digital leaders stated that digital investments made before the pandemic allowed for an agile response, according to a survey by 451 Research. IIoT gives the necessary insight and data that enables companies to respond appropriately and quickly, as well as offer new value to customers. Before the pandemic, healthcare manufacturer bioMérieux created a remote service platform for products, consisting of over 16,000 connected diagnostics systems. Customers then turned to the platform to resolve issues once the pandemic began, increasing the tool’s usage by 40%.
• Robotics and Automation: To protect healthcare workers in the pandemic, robots have been deployed in various roles. “Cobots” (collaborative robots) are key for improving productivity and human workers’ abilities; one example is a metal fabricator in Texas maintaining social distancing by utilising a team of cobots to meet demand. Spatial computing is another significant technology, helping to better understand how machines, humans, and products spatially relate to one another. The technology combines AR, IIoT, Artificial Intelligence, computer vision, and camera sensors to elevate seamless collaboration between humans and machines.

The article concludes by recognising how COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for technological developments, as digital transformation is now a necessity for the enterprise. Innovative technology supports essential workers and allows businesses to thrive.

See PTC’s AREA member profile here, and read the full article here.

Using Kyra (Guardhat’s Industrial IoT platform), Vuzix’s smart glasses connect to Guardhat’s Theia app, allowing the following features:

• Tracking real-time location with in-built GPS
• Wireless connectivity with offline operation when disconnected
• VOIP audio-visual communications
• Local media capture with sync to Kyra
• Voice- and button-activated panic alarm

Anupam Sengupta, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Guardhat, is grateful for the partnership with Vuzix, as it enables them to provide support to workers during the pandemic. Guardhat are always seeking ways to use their technology as a way of maintaining front-line worker safety.

Vuzix’s smart glasses consist of two variants: the HG1 (Vuzix M400) and the HG2 (Vuzix M4000). The differences are that the HG2 has a see-through waveguide display and comes with a larger WVGA colour display (28 degrees, equivalent to a 9” mobile screen seen at 18”). However, both devices use the Qualcomm XR platform, ensuring better performance.

Paul Travers, CEO of Vuzix, has also said that the Guardhat app provides “real-time situational awareness”, bringing important, hands-free information to workers to increase their safety as well as productivity.

Further advantages of the companies’ integration include:

• Audio/video calls to remote experts
• Capturing pictures and recording audio/video
• Scanning barcodes and QR codes for asset identification
• Voice command operation
• Display of guided instructions and work procedures
• Checklists for MEO, EAM, and EWP use cases
• Interoperation with other Guardhat wearables and devices via Bluetooth
• Digital forms
• Field service solutions

The article concludes with a quote from Chief Operating Officer at Guardhat, Indranil Choudhury, who states that the smart glasses display the industry growth and innovation that has occurred as a result of the pandemic.

See Vuzix’s AREA member profile here, and read the full article here.

The strategic alliance between Magic Leap and PTC was announced in 2019, but now PTC is planning to implement its Vuforia Augmented Reality Enterprise Suite with Magic Leap’s Spatial Computing platform. The Vuforia AR Enterprise Suite offers easy, fast, advanced AR solutions, which reduces costs, increases workforce safety and efficiency, and improves customer experiences. With the Magic Leap combination, the technology provides some of the highest industrial quality solutions to improve performance and boost productivity.

The Vuforia AR Enterprise Suite includes the following capabilities:

• Vuforia Chalk™
• Vuforia Expert Capture™
• Vuforia Studio™
• Vuforia Engine™
• Vuforia Spatial Toolbox™

AR adoption has been accelerated due to COVID-19 across a range of industries, as organisations had to quickly adapt to remote operations. Magic Leap’s Spatial Computing is able to optimise factories by giving front line workers more control over their physical environment, according to leading IoT specialists. Industry experts can remotely access the shop floor, interfacing more with the production line. Engineers, designers, programmers, and managers all benefit from the technology via increased productivity, closer collaboration, and improved workflow.

Global leading industrial enterprises integrating AR and Spatial Computing such as Magic Leap 1 can achieve:

• Up to 40% improvement in new hire productivity
• Up to 50% reduction in training costs
• Up to 30% acceleration in sales cycles
• Up to 30% improvement in first time fix rate
• Up to 25% reduction in rework and scrap costs

One example of a company that has benefited from the Magic Leap and PTC partnership is Jabil Inc., a global manufacturing organisation that provides design capabilities, manufacturing knowledge, market experience, product management expertise, and supply chain insights to leading brands. Due to the fusion of Vuforia and Spatial Computing, Jabil can support front line workers remotely with AR training and equipment information. Soon, they will be able to develop digital work instructions for maintenance.

See Magic Leap’s AREA member profile here, and PTC’s profile here.

Read the full article here.

Before COVID-19, specialists from the Pinhais facility would have to make 1500 mile trips to the Camaçari plant for product development monitoring. The Smart Glasses have enabled specialists to remotely provide support to factory operators during production. The operators receive expert video and audio support while remaining hands-free. A reduction in travel time allows for greater productivity while also reducing carbon footprint.

Paulo Roseiro, Research and Development Director at Boticário Group, has said that the company is utilising many ways of meeting needs, producing quality, and maintaining safety, one being their deployment of Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses. President and CEO of Vuzix, Paul Travers, has also said that their Smart Glasses continue to reduce costs, increase safety, and improve product quality across the globe.

Read the full article here, and see Vuzix’s AREA member profile here.

Gartner reported that from 2016 to 2018, the number of IoT devices increased from 6 billion to 11 billion, and is expected to reach 20 billion by the end of this year. With the advancement of IoT, companies can use these platforms to collect large amounts of data to monitor industrial performance. Each stage of production provides the following information:

• Status Data: a manufacturing robot is working
• Location Data: the position of a product in the production line
• Automation Data: the temperature as regulated by a sensor

AR converts IoT data into relevant information for employees, supporting operation, maintenance, and performance. This increases efficiency and reduces error rates, making optimal use of limited skilled workers. AR leverages “dynamic data” such as:

• Warning signals
• Capacity indicators
• RPM readings
• Temperature readings

The article discusses two industrial use cases for AR: medical device manufacturing and pharmaceutical production, and assembly line in industrial manufacturing. In the first use case, AR can visualise dynamic data such as air filtration or room temperature in the operator’s field of view, using a mobile device or smart glasses. This visualisation allows the medical operator to:

• Monitor changes – the impact that an adjustment has is immediately visible
• Take action immediately – as problems occur, they can be addressed
• Forsee problems before they occur – issues can be avoided in advance

In the second use case, errors can be extremely costly, as even a minute of downtime costs up to $22,000 in the automotive industry. An AR data display therefore helps manufacturing workers with:

• Diagnosing errors – the nature and location of malfunctions on machines are immediately visible
• Performing maintenance and repair – having relevant information in direct view makes equipment servicing and fixing errors easier
• Equipment monitoring – values are shown at the machine instead of on complex dashboards

The article concludes by recognising that combining AR and IoT maximises their potential. A BCG survey has revealed that 80% of businesses already working with either AR or IoT believe that combined solutions will become widespread in their industry in coming years.

Read the full article here, and see RE’FLEKT’s AREA member profile here.

Aspects of industrial work that AR digital twins improve include:

• Planning
• Inspections
• Maintenance
• Product development
• Customer visualisation
• Remote work

The Arvizio XR Platform allows digital twins to be visualised at either table-top or life-size level. It further supports remote 3D collaboration via an expansive variety of XR devices such as:

• Magic Leap
• HoloLens 2
• iPad
• iPhone
• Android tablets and phones

Users can import a range of 3D CAD, LiDAR, BIM, and photogrammetry assets. Autodesk cloud services such as Fusion 360 and BIM 360 can also be integrated seamlessly with the technology. These reality captures or 3D models are essentially a digital canvas for utilising the digital twin with AR data. The user can visualise documents, images, IoT data, and workflow items with objects via a graphical interface tool. The AR data can then overlay models and scans onto real-world objects on site. Arvizio’s Platform interfaces to IoT data hubs as well as popular cloud, enabling integration and association of live IoT data with 3D object models, creating an operational digital twin.

Jonathan Reeves, CEO of Arvizio, is quoted to have said that COVID-19 has functioned as a catalyst for Industry 4.0 enterprise adoption, as businesses are looking for innovative technologies to improve ROI and productivity. AR and digital twins can be seamlessly incorporated for Arvizio’s customers to ensure better processes and increased efficiency.

See Arivizio’s member profile here, and read the full article here.

Newcastle University has the Newcastle Flow Cytometry Core Facility, an advanced research lab and technology platform. Cytometry involves a team of experts operating and maintaining the systems used to perform blood cell analysis (cytometers), and also to train other scientists. These systems are in different physical locations, and each team member has a different skill set, causing difficulties in aligning personnel with the appropriate platform. COVID-19 exacerbates this issue, as the team is split between home and on-site work in “bio-bubble” groups, and face-to-face training and support for the program has been suspended.

The Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses were chosen to provide remote support and training to the team at Newcastle University, as the majority of the lab research is hands-on and requires freedom of both hands for safe, effective experiment conduct and system operation. The Smart Glasses enable hands-free work, and can also be configured with safety glasses.

Dr. Andrew Filby, Director of the Newcastle Flow Cytometry Core and Lead of the Innovation, Methodology, and Innovations Research Theme, gives the following advantages of the Vuzix M400 Smart Glasses:

• Noise cancellation – useful for high-ambient noise level environments
• Image stabilisation
• Zoom functions – useful for close detail work
• Compatible with renowned streaming and remote support platforms such as Zoom and TeamViewer
• Easy and intuitive operation and control
• Rugged – can withstand lab environment
• Ensures expert support and training is available remotely

President and CEO of Vuzix, Paul Travers, concludes by stating that Vuzix Smart Glasses are being more widely recognised by international organisations, and that they are proud to have their technology embraced most recently by Newcastle University.

Read more about Vuzix on their AREA member profile here.