May 3, 2019
Emerging technologies are taking root across industries. Learn how a wide variety of enterprises are applying new technologies in this summary of the most recent use cases of AR/VR and wearables:
Fast and Secure Customer Service via AR
Customer support is a key consideration for companies purchasing expensive, mission-critical equipment. When an urgent repair is needed, inefficient customer support practices can unnecessarily prolong costly disruptions to operations. Swiss machinery manufacturer Bobst understands that continuous improvement of their customer service practices is important to guarantee the integrity of their products and earn customers’ loyalty; which is why the company recently deployed the Helpline Plus AR system. This was intended to boost Bobst’s capacity to respond to customer requests quickly and efficiently, and indeed the solution did improve the performance of Bobst’s help desk technicians.
Augmented reality (AR) gives Bobst’s technical experts the ability to remotely diagnose and remedy a customer’s problem from anywhere in the world. Heads-up AR headsets deliver a two-way video and audio connection over a secure WiFi connection for real-time, visual remote guidance. With the customer wearing an AR headset, a support center-based technician can inspect the machine in question and give easy-to-follow troubleshooting and repair advice and instructions. The ability to observe remotely and instantly prevents mistakes and confusion in issue resolution and limits the amount of downtime for the customer, generating savings for both vendor and customer and multiplying the value of Bobst’s well-trained techs. Already boasting a strong customer support system, Bobst now sees AR-enabled, see-what-I-see communication as a powerful tool for service support that merits a worldwide rollout.
Continual Innovation on the Assembly Line at Boeing
Building a plane is a massive project. Production efficiency is a top priority, and the scale and complexity of the plane manufacturing process amplifies the consequences of a tiny mistake. Boeing has teams that evaluate every minutiae of the production process for possible optimization. For example, the company is set for a company-wide deployment of a Bluetooth-enabled smart wrench that measures the torque applied to a nut. The introduction of self-driving work platforms on the assembly line will be a significant innovation to cut time lost on the assembly line, promising to improve monthly production of 787 Dreamliners from 12 to 14. That one piece of technology could produce such a boost in output is remarkable, but the impact it achieves is only possible in combination with other innovations that have been regularly introduced by Boeing. Workers on platforms can now work seamlessly without the interruption of using a forklift to move the scaffolding of a workstation, which saves time and reduces the risk of accidents. Many of Boeing assembly line workers wear industrial exoskeletons to greatly reduce the strain of repetitive movements, in addition to using connected tools like the ‘smart’ wrench and AR glasses for workflow support.
Boeing’s innovative solutions are created by multidisciplinary teams of Boeing engineers who operate in small ‘innovation cells’ within factories where they use virtual reality to test their ideas. A recent breakthrough in one cell led to the implementation of a 3D-printed, curved ruler that reduced the time needed to execute specialized inspection tasks within a plane’s cabin by over five hours. The greater precision achieved by leveraging emerging technologies to transform existing processes can also reduce the need for some inspections overall. Industry leaders like Boeing continue to astound with their almost continuous development of innovative and effective applications for emerging technologies on some of the most sophisticated production lines in the world.
Hear more about Boeing’s use of emerging tech from Christopher Reid, Brian Laughlin, and Connie Miller at EWTS 2019 this September in Dallas.
VR Helps Adidas Corporate Teams Find Their Stride
In today’s corporate world, departmental silos create gaps in communications, leaving key decision makers to operate with limited information. Visibility and accessibility across departments and disciplines is critical to effective communication and collaboration in an organization, a problem Adidas identified in its own process for bringing new shoes to market.
Adidas’ answer for getting teams on the same page to deliver a shoe from design stage to a retail environment? Virtual reality. The retailer uses software supplied by The Wild to model products, build virtual marketing campaigns, and showcase new shoe designs. Holding meetings wearing HTC VIVE VR headsets allows cross-departmental decision makers to better communicate ideas and demonstrate designs. VR makes inherently spatial design concepts clearer and provides greater transparency into a project overall, putting stakeholders with varying expertise coming from offices that usually have little contact with one another on the same page and reducing the back and forth that can stifle global collaboration efforts. Having VR models of new designs readily available for scrutiny means that flaws can be identified and remediated before a product enters the costly production phase, ultimately speeding up the delivery of the product to market. In addition, other areas of Adidas’ business can use the shared 3D library to visualize and iterate products and marketing strategies in virtual retail spaces based upon the company’s real stores.
Hear more about Adidas’ use of emerging tech from Brooks Clemens at EWTS 2019.
VR Marketing: ADT’s Alarming Simulation Gets in Customers’ Heads
Safe at home on your own? ADT’s latest marketing campaign, developed in collaboration with Harte Hanks, brings the danger right into your bedroom. For the campaign, ADT shipped makeshift VR headsets to select households. With these, consumers were able to view an immersive YouTube video simulation of a house fire and ADT’s coordinated response with the local fire department. The virtual experience drops you in the middle of a crisis in motion, simulating the disorientation of waking up in a dark smoky room as a fire rages within the home. ADT’s campaign proved accessible, educational and engaging, a powerful emotional trigger to build brand awareness.
Marketing is an excellent space for experimentation and innovation with AR/VR, and campaigns similar to ADT’s can be conducted on a wider scale and at a lower cost in the future once VR headsets become a common household item. Enterprise applications make practicality a priority, but in marketing the incentive is to creatively connect with consumers and make a strong impression by whatever means is most effective. Innovative marketing teams will continue to toy with VR to produce novel, visceral experiences that enable brands to connect with customers.
Haptics for Better Handling
New car designs usually begin with 2D paper models and when a design is selected to advance to production, a 3D clay model is created to get a sense of the design at scale and refine the model. Expensive, inflexible and labor-intensive, clay modeling has been a standard auto industry practice for more than half a century. Now, VR is becoming widely adopted in car design, enabling designers to review interior and exterior details of a 3D vehicle model and identify any necessary changes to be made to the CAD model before a physical prototype is created.
VR, however, can fall short compared to the interactivity of sculpting a clay model; which is why Nissan recently deployed HaptX’s VR gloves. Merging the experience of the virtual world with sensory reality, the gloves deliver haptic feedback to the wearer, creating the sensation of physically shaping a car model with one’s hands. Designers wearing the gloves can feel the contours of the vehicle surface, manipulate console buttons and dials, and even grip the virtual steering wheel and drive the car. Though HaptX’s tech is currently limited (ex. you cannot distinguish textures or feel the subtle actions of gears and switches), Nissan’s use of it marks an important step towards more practical applications of VR.
Compressing the Sales Process
Swedish machinery manufacturer Atlas Copco’s AIRNET line is a range of high-quality piping and compressor equipment sold to provide complete integrated solutions for compressed air infrastructure. Atlas’ global distribution sales team markets the company’s integrated compressed air systems using components from the range of AIRNET products; but selling such a complex system can be slow and ineffective if the client cannot clearly visualize the functional layout of the system or its easy installment, operation and maintenance.
In order to improve the overall sales process and experience, Atlas Copco adopted Eon Reality’s 3D modeling and VR technology solutions. Atlas’ salespeople have been given access to a full virtual range of AIRNET SKUs to present clients with tailored compressed air infrastructure solutions. Using Eon’s tools, salespeople can create and adjust plans according to a client’s wishes without any particular technical expertise. The ability to demonstrate and swap AIRNET components in a virtual model eliminates the need to carry samples (there are over 1,000 AIRNET SKUs!); and complete quotes can be quickly calculated accompanied by a functional simulation of a system and the bill of materials adjusted with each design iteration. Installers and technicians also get access to cloud-based VR installation guidance. Using VR, Atlas Copco’s sales team is able to shorten the sales cycle and better engage clients while assuring superior VR-enhanced follow-up support.
VR for Public Outreach: Clearing the Air About Petrochemical Operations
The towering smokestacks of a chemical plant or refinery can be an ominous sight. Public misconceptions and mistrust pose a serious challenge to companies whose operations often only reach the public consciousness via news of industrial accidents and disasters. This has resulted in an unsympathetic industry image – one of pollution as opposed to cutting-edge tech and critical production – which, in turn, affects recruitment of new generations of talent.
Industry association American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) has pushed companies like Marathon Petroleum and Ineos to improve public relations and boost recruiting efforts by using VR to ‘open’ their plant operations to the general public. A VR tour experience of Marathon’s Galvestone Bay refinery and one of Ineos’ La Porte chemical plant, made for Oculus as well as the more accessible (and cheaper) smartphone-enabled Google Cardboard, aim at demystifying the industry for consumers. Viewers virtually meet Marathan and Ineos employees, the idea being to dispel doubts about oil and gas operations and inspire students to pursue careers in the field. VR permits a higher level of engagement with and outreach to the public than previously possible for the likes of Marathon and Ineos.
The Enterprise Wearable Technology Summit (EWTS) is an annual conference dedicated to the use of wearable technology for business and industrial applications. As the leading event for enterprise wearables, EWTS is where enterprises go to innovate with the latest in wearable tech, including heads-up displays, AR/VR/MR, body- and wrist-worn devices, and even exoskeletons. The 6th annual EWTS will be held September 17-19, 2019 in Dallas, TX. More details, including agenda and confirmed speakers, available on the conference website.
