Boeing has a long tradition of aerospace leadership and innovation. The company continues to expand its product line and services to meet emerging customer needs. Its broad range of capabilities includes creating new, more efficient members of its commercial airplane family; integrating military platforms, defense systems and the warfighter through network-enabled solutions; creating advanced technology solutions; and arranging innovative customer-financing options.
With corporate offices in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 169,000 people across the United States and in more than 65 countries. This represents one of the most diverse, talented and innovative workforces anywhere. Our enterprise also leverages the talents of hundreds of thousands more skilled people working for Boeing suppliers worldwide.
Boeing is organized into two business units: Boeing Commercial Airplanes and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. Supporting these units are Boeing Capital Corporation, a global provider of financing solutions; Shared Services Group, which provides a broad range of services to Boeing worldwide; and Boeing Engineering, Operations & Technology, which helps develop, acquire, apply and protect innovative technologies and processes.
Background and Achievements
Boeing has a long standing history in Augmented Reality, dating back to the late 1980s, when the first prototype Augmented Reality system was piloted for wire harness routing in our airplane production facility. Since that time, the company has continued to invest in research & development in the field, and has partnered with industry and academia to break down barriers to implementation of the technology. Boeing is a thought leader in this field and organizes and/or participates in global conferences on the topic.
Challenges to be addressed by AR
Boeing R&D efforts in Augmented Reality are focused on assembly operations and field support. Assembly processes for Boeing products can be highly complex and require comprehensive understanding of the task at hand to efficiently execute without introducing errors. In addition, maintenance and field operations frequently happen in remote locations, and expert assistance may be needed. Application of Augmented Reality technology to these applications will yield significant benefits.
Why AR is a Strategic Area
Our research shows that there are large efficiency gains to be realized, when information related tasks are aided by Augmented Reality techniques. Augmented Reality is a fundamentally-enabling technology that can be used in a large number of applications throughout the product lifecycle. As the technology develops and matures, it will be possible to realize these benefits across the industry.