DETROIT – The continuously evolving manufacturing 4.0 ecosystem challenges many industrial firms, directly affecting their core operations, productivity, and profitability.  Some common issues may include:

  • Skilled technician availability
  • High operator turnover
  • Long recruitment and training cycles
  • Complex products and workspaces
  • Isolated/remote operations

As technology transforms the manufacturing workplace, so, too, does technology offer a way to transform how we learn and communicate in the manufacturing workplace.

Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are emerging advanced communications technologies that offer novel, impactful avenues for training employees, easing access to knowledge bases, and delivering operational assistance to industrial operations.  Early adopters are already tuning into the benefits of AR/MR/VR; a recent Harvard Business Review study found 68% of enterprise executives they surveyed believe that AR is “important to achieving  their companies’ strategic goals in the next 18 months.”

But here’s the catch: The same survey showed that just 32% of these executives believe that their senior management understand the technology and understand the potential benefits it can bring to their company.

Leading organizations are looking at new approaches to delivering high-quality products and services. Those who are piloting AR see their most immediate potential gains on the operational side, netting productivity, quality, and costs reductions that are favorable to their client relationships. But it can be confusing.

It’s why the AR team at Mirari developed the ‘Augmented Reality (AR) for Manufacturing and Services Workshop’ for Tier 1, Tier 2 and SMB Manufacturing companies. The AR workshop is designed for executives, senior level managers, engineering managers or technical specialists who are called upon to formulate or provide input into strategic decisions and business operational strategies.

Today, information is everywhere, transforming the way we communicate, collaborate, and create.  Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the modern workplace. (Smartphone ownership is widespread, with over 71% of the 2018 US population reporting ownership).  No matter how we work, or what we do, the ubiquity of information has given rise to a new culture of work—one that is increasingly open, global, and multigenerational, driven by an increasing sense of urgency, and an unprecedented need for ingenuity and teamwork. 

But while information seems to be everywhere, it’s often not in the hands of workers when and where they need it most.  

For 80% of the workforce—first-line workers who may be serving customers, treating patients, or pioneering new products and processes on the factory floor—work requires information to be in context—not just on a screen, but in the physical space of their work. And for all employees, the global workplace demands that information be easily accessible and exchangedacross barriers of time and place, between geographically and culturally disparate teams.

Augmented Reality (AR) Virtual Reality (VR), or Mixed Reality (MR) as it often referred to, may hold the solution to delivering an integrated, just-in-time, collaborative experience to today’s worker.

In a recent Harvard Business Review survey,  more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents reported they believe mixed reality is important to achieving their companies’ strategic goals in the next 18 months.

But here’s the catch: The same survey showed that just 32% of these executives believe that their senior management understand the technology and understand the potential benefits it can bring to their company.

At the same time, respondents reported that mixed reality has been more difficult to implement than other enterprise applications. Most senior executives don’t have a good grasp of the technology and are not articulating a clear vision for it, even though they see it as critical to their success.  This, despite the fact that many organizations have much of the necessary infrastructure to support a Mixed Reality pilot or Proof of Concept. Most of the respondents in the survey supported mobile devices in their organizations (Smartphones, Tablets) and had policies and processes to enmesh these devices with their business operations.  Additionally, many industrial design and manufacturing companies have developed and possess digitized 3D assets and knowledgeable digital development staff, enhancing the potential for success with AR/MR as a real option for integration into the enterprise.

Harvard Business Review and other organizations are also in agreement that that organizations are anticipating a structural change to the way they do business. Among the benefits they expect to achieve from deploying Mixed Reality in their operations are improved customer experience (62% of respondents) topped the list. Others include efficient work processes (55%), competitive advantage (52%), improved productivity (49%), improved customer service (47%), and reduced costs (37%).

The success of any investment in technology hinges on an organizational realization that new  technology, deployed in the absence of new organizational and managerial strategies, can equate to “paving the cowpath”.  Identifying an organizational champion or “early adopter” can be instrumental in identifying opportunities for deploying AR/MR, and developing the early organizational support needed to gain acceptance for a pilot or Proof of Concept deployment.  Capitalizing on the (expected) success of a prototype AR/MR project also requires that the organizational champion metamorphose into an organizational change agent, formalizing the transition into new working relationships, processes, and technologies. 

Upcoming ‘AR for Manufacturing and Services’ Workshops

The AR team at Mirari developed the ‘Augmented Reality (AR) for Manufacturing and Services Workshop’ for Tier 1, Tier 2 and SMB Manufacturing companies. The AR workshop is designed for executives, senior level managers, engineering managers or technical specialists who are called upon to formulate or provide input into strategic decisions and business
operational strategies.

During this thought-provoking, full-day event, Mirari will provide a detailed roadmap for deploying Augmented Reality (AR) in the manufacturing space.  A blend of syndicated industry research, case studies, real-life examples and facilitated group discussions will be used to build a solid understanding of AR in manufacturing operations.

To enhance the impact of the workshop, Mirari’s AR team will collect issues and ideas ahead of the event for use in workshop problem-solving discussions.  These later facilitated group interactions will focus on customized training, collaboration and operational strategies on the manufacturing floor.

Mirari will also demonstrate how to organize, plan and develop a tablet-based AR application for use in a manufacturing setting, enhancing understanding of end-to-end requirements for deploying a successful AR solution.

For more information,  event dates, and investment,  visit‘ Augmented Reality (AR) for Manufacturing and Services Workshop’ .