Technologies Disrupting The Future of Production
An article on Enterprise Innovation Net speaks of 5 technologies that are transforming and disrupting the future of production. Included in the report are Wearables and Augmented Reality, the Internet of Things, Advanced Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and 3D Printing. The full report can be read here, however, the wearables and Augmented Reality section connected with future production will be of most interest to our readers and is reproduced below:
Wearables and Augmented Reality (AR)
Technology for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is disrupting the market and the article says it could become the next computing platform, following personal computers and smartphones. These technologies fundamentally shift the way that information is relayed to the user, offering immediate access to critical data.
Wearables, AR and VR present valuable use cases for quality inspection, work instructions, training, workflow management, operations and safety, logistics and maintenance.
Wearables can offer value across multiple dimensions in production:
- Productivity improvements through communication, data digitalization and IoT integration
- Health and fitness wearables will lead to improved health, fewer safety incidents and reduced insurance premiums.
- AR and wearables will lead to improved quality through remote verification, automatic mistake proofing and live, step-by-step instruction/documentation
- VR and wearables will lead to significant reduction in workforce training costs and increased training effectiveness.
- VR will be an integral part of design methodology and design for manufacturability, reducing time to market for new products.
Industries with a high labour cost or high cost of mistakes have the greatest potential to achieve a significant return on investment with these technologies disrupting industry.