Montgomerie writes “It’s a thrill to see how rapidly AR and other technologies are evolving. And it’s just as gratifying to see just how these knowledge-sharing technologies are meeting the business needs in the marketplace.

Just a few years ago, enterprise AR was an emerging technology. But one thing became crystal-clear at AWE this year: AR for the enterprise is no longer a novelty. It’s not just a wild idea to test out in a sandbox. Companies are using AR to solve real business problems. They’re giving their workforce access to critical, specialized knowledge when and where they need it. After seeing impressive use cases, and talking to the enterprise innovators that now use AR for real-world applications — I can safely say: the emerging-tech phase is in the rearview mirror.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking with executives ready to test AR in parts of their business. They’re typically optimistic, but cautious: I get it — but where do I start, and how do I get my team on board?

There are definitely use cases that AR is better suited for than others in an enterprise setting.  In order to ensure you’re choosing the right use case for your organization, here are three mistakes to avoid as you prepare your business for AR adoption:

1) Don’t plan to rewire your entire business. You can’t expect AR to replace a process across your global operations overnight. Start smart. Find a discreet project where you can address a real-world business problem. Ensure it’s a process that can be enhanced by real-time knowledge transfer. And above all, ensure it’s a use case where you can measure and share quantifiable results.

What scenarios might be a good candidate for your business’ first use case? Be sure to consider workflows and teams that would benefit from augmented knowledge like step-by-step instructions, contextual digital overlays, and even live video support from a remote expert. For instance, imagine how impactful on-demand expertise – by way of real-time remote assistance or pre-built guided instructions – could be for a field service team or remote workers managing highly-specialized manufacturing tasks.

2) Avoid complexity and embrace efficiency. From the outset, it’s important to understand where AR will most benefit the people and processes that are the lifeblood of your business. You need to make sure it brings instant expertise and context to the task at-hand. You don’t want to add another layer of process; you want to ensure workers can access knowledge from subject matter experts or resources, wherever they are and whenever they need them.

Some questions to ask along the way:

• What direction or communications do your remote workers need most while they are in their workstream?
• Where can real-time expertise help them complete tasks most efficiently and effectively?
• What tasks in physical space — such as locating repair points, modeling, assembly or QA — could benefit from real-time guidance or visual, intuitive instructions?
• What situations might benefit from live assistance or access to a support recording of the same scenario, versus specialized standalone training?
• What do your senior-staff subject matter experts know that new hires don’t — and can AR-enhanced support, communications or replays help bridge the gap?

3) Don’t lose sight of business realities. At the end of the day, if your first AR use case fails to provide ROI, you might not get a chance to kick off a second one. Ensure you’ve allocated ample budget to complete a project successfully. But don’t burn budget on proprietary hardware or a closed software platform. You likely can build out an initiative with an agnostic AR platform that extends across devices and operating systems your team already uses. Creating a smart budget will help you more quickly achieve ROI.

Beyond planning for cost, you’ll need to navigate another business reality: you’re rarely in it alone. Your AR project will need buy-in from two additional critical sets of stakeholders: your leadership and your IT department. An advocate inside the business can help make the case to leadership for the investment, and ensure they see the hard-cost savings potential in the unprecedented levels of knowledge sharing that AR allows.

Just as critically, however, IT needs to be on board, as early as possible. IT can help you clear hurdles around security, governance or other compliance protocols, like limited-access to intellectual property you might need to share over an AR platform. Approach your AR use case with IT as a full deployment partner, so you’re integrated with the existing systems and infrastructure that knowledge and communications already flow through.

From conversations with business leaders, I know it can seem daunting to get an AR project deployed. With the right use case, you can unlock expertise, share knowledge and add value well beyond the objectives of your initial project. Ready to get started? Download our free eBook, “Building the Perfect AR Use Case” for a step-by-step guide to launching an enterprise AR initiative.

These smart glasses would incorporate multiple components of Vuzix IP and technology/ecosystem it has built around smart glasses including:

• Custom large field of view (FOV) display engine
• Next generation processor
• Designed around eyeglasses materials and industrial design
• Flexible for multiple sizes and fashion forward models
• Supporting both monocular and binocular viewing systems
• Built around Vuzix smart glasses ecosystem platform supporting development tools, cloud APIs and Vuzix App Store
• Other sensors for AR and UI applications

Tesla, incidentally, trialed Google Glass but has since gone on to patent its own AR headset system, a testament to the growth of AR and wearable computers even in manufacturing.

The technology is hitting at just the right time. Some 10 million manufacturing jobs will likely be needed in the coming decade, yet many of those will likely go unfilled due to a massive skills gap, according to Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. 

Augmented reality, which is still trying to find its stride in the enterprise, help by scaling on-the-job knowledge transfer. That could come in the form of everything from schematic overlays to help workers in the field to hives of “old hand” experts in a central location who can guide workers on the job.

The race to provide the technology has been heating up, with companies like Vuforia and Google competing to provide headsets for the next industrial revolution, one aided by automation but in which humans still feature centrally. As in most technology categories, most of the players have competed to provide the most feature-rich hardware, but RealWear has taken a different tack.

“The augmented reality enterprise market has experienced a great deal of hype, but long-term, real-world solutions have been thin on the ground,” said Tom Mainelli, IDC Group VP of Devices and AR/VR. “RealWear smartly recognized the need for a no-nonsensehead-mounted display and has delivered no-frills products that help frontline workers to get their jobs done more safely and efficiently.”

So far RealWear has shipped 15,000+ units, making it a preferred technology provider in its class and attracting interest from big investors like Qualcomm Ventures.

“RealWear has experienced strong growth and is well positioned to become a leading platform for connected workers everywhere,” said Richard Tapalaga, Director, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and Investment Director, Qualcomm Ventures.

In the last 18 months the company has added 1,300 enterprise customers, and its app ecosystem has more than 120 workforce software applications.

Innovation specialists will assess value-added technology and provide advanced visibility into various efforts focused on testing potential supply chain management solutions and technological advances outside of a live operation. The announcement was featured in DC Velocity magazine.

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based 3PL Kenco will be opening up a dedicated 10,000 square-foot physical warehouse space, which will serve as an expansion of its Supply Chain Innovation Lab that was introduced by the company in 2015.

LogistiVIEW’s Connected Worker Platform, built on VIEW (Visual Input Enabled Wearable) technology, combines AR, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Computer Vision on smart glasses to transform complex data for workers to make better, more informed decisions across tasks.

LogistiVIEW technology improves workforce productivity and job satisfaction by making processes hands free and eyes focused – guiding workers with simple, highly-intuitive instructions. With visual-based cues that deliver only what is critical for that task, along with simultaneous voice instructions, LogistiVIEW simplifies the worker’s decision-making process to reduce errors, increase accuracy, and enable rapid training.

DC Velocity is the market leading multi-media magazine brand serving the specific informational needs of logistics and supply chain managers and executives. DC VELOCITY offers comprehensive logistics coverage at the hub of logistics as the leader.

Read LogistiView’s AREA member profile and follow them on Twitter @logistiview

But PTC decided to leave their long-term home to enable them to attract the type of talent required to drive the company forward in this age of emerging technologies.

Since its launch just over 30 years ago, PTC has led the way in CAD and PLM but in recent years that portfolio has grown to include innovative technologies such as augmented reality. “The market now is about AI, AR, VR, 5G, cloud, edge and high-performance computing,” Jim Heppelmann, president and chief executive officer explains. “If you want to play in those areas, you need to get the top graduates. But they do not want to work in a suburban area, we can’t easily pull these people out to the suburbs.

Leading innovation from the Reality Lab

The answer was the 17-story building, 121 Seaport, that became PTC’s home when it opened earlier this year. Aside from the 1,000 PTC employees, a crucial element of the new environment is the Customer Experience Centre (CXC) that takes up the top floor of the building. Tucked in amongst the working examples of Industrial IoT is the PTC Reality Lab.

“In the factory, there are millions of sensors, motors, robots, and machines and problems with humans interacting with machines. There’s such a high density of spatial problems that this is the perfect playground to research the future of augmented reality.”

Read the full article here 

Andy Lowery, Cofounder and CEO of RealWear, said the following:

“RealWear’s investors in this round are impressive. RealWear teamed with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to architect an investment syndicate led by Teradyne, Inc. (TER), a global leader in industrial automation, and includes Bose Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures LLC (QCOM), Kopin Corporation (KOPN), and investors from JPMorgan’s (JPM) Private Bank.

Each of us is eager to lead industrial digital transformation globally. Every RealWear investor, from seed to series B, have recognized the significance of RealWear and the HMT product line. Our rugged hands-free wearable computer has been the fundamental nucleus triggering an acceleration of this digital renaissance.

RealWear has already achieved what no other company in our space has done before us.  Now, the new private funding will enable RealWear to grow our focus on industrial safety and security, in preparation to manage an exploding number of large-scale deployments.

Since the beginning, our legendary “RealWear serendipity” struck like a bolt of lightning on February 28, 2016, when Dr. Chris Parkinson knocked on my door in Los Angeles, wearing a yellow hardhat and clutching a bag (looking like something out of a Harry Potter film). That bag contained over ten years of research in wearable computer prototype development. It was the implementation of voice recognition technology, safety-first industrial design and hands-free user experience that amazed me.

The results speak for themselves. Today, RealWear boasts 1300 customers who are saving millions while simultaneously improving safety. Over 15,000 RealWear systems are fielded today that are leveraging a software ecosystem of over 120 applications that increase the bottom line.

We spend the majority of our time today building the enablement partnerships and support tools to enable our customers with ongoing deployments, like Colgate-Palmolive, Shell, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, The State Grid of China, Honeywell, BMW, and many more.

Thank you. RealWear is here to stay.”

We are delighted at their news.

Read RealWear’s AREA member profile here. https://thearea.org/area-members/realwear/

If you are interested in joining The AREA, please get in touch or find out more on our membership page. https://thearea.org/membership/

Friedman writes: “My main point then was that wearable technologies – the body-worn sensors being integrated into organizations’ EHS efforts, exoskeletons taking a load off workers’ backs, and VR headsets being hailed as the future of job training – exhibit coded patriarchy and risk further alienating the female workforce. Wearables that are replacing or supplementing traditional PPE(personal protective equipment) cannot succumb to the same biased or negligent design as have automobiles, office buildings, etc., for the future economy and growth of the workforce depend upon improving job prospects and working environments for women.”

The author takes us through the history of man, why this is more than product ergonomics, the data gap at the heart of the workplace, PPE in the workplace, how designing needs to change in future, and how uncomfortable lead to unproductive which ultimately impacts everyone in the enterprise.

The 6th annual EWTS will be held September 17-19 2019 in Dallas, Texas.  Events page here.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has deployed Microsoft’s mixed reality (MR) Hololens devices in a bid to speed production and improve training for new staff. Airbus is also teaming up with Microsoft to sell MR apps to other businesses in the airline industry.

The Netherlands-based company, which competes with the likes of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, aims to build 20,000 aircraft over the next two decades.

The full article can be read here.

In an emergency, response times and accurate information are key. The typical time available for individuals to escape a growing fire following detection is three minutes. In these three minutes, crews need to determine changing temperatures in flashover conditions, fire behavior, victim location, and assist their crew with virtually zero visibility. While the conditions are different, the importance of time and precision is the same when dispatching first responders for school shootings, car accidents, massive forest fires, and infrastructure collapse from earthquakes, tornadoes, and flash floods.

Never has there been a more important use case for low latency compute and high bandwidth to support our first responders in an emergency.

With real-time location data, AI-driven predictive analytics, heat-mapped augmented reality overlays, drone data, sensor technologies and video analytics, we are now enabling our first responders to act faster and with greater accuracy to save lives.

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AWE started early on May 29th – with a breakfast and panel of experts exploring how Augmented Reality is changing the way companies in the automotive and manufacturing worlds tackle the challenges of skills shortages, competitive pressures and a desire to reduce resolution times and better meet customer needs.

The panel was moderated by Mark Sage, the executive director of the Augmented Reality Enterprise Alliance (AREA), who kicked the discussion off by asking the panelists how they are seeing AR being used in their different industries.

Automotive industry veteran (and new Atheer advisor) Salim Murr offered his perspective on how he sees the AR use case for automotive dealers. He said while many industries are facing shortages of experienced, skilled technicians, that shortage is particularly acute in the automotive industry.

He said the shortage is compounded by the massive sea change facing the sector as it moves to meet the growing demand for electric and hybrid vehicles, which require not only retraining existing staff (and providing them with fast, efficient and accurate, on-the-ground support), but also ensuring that they are deeply familiar with the safety issues that come with working on high voltage electric vehicles. “You do not want touch 400 volts!,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Dirk Frese, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at JULABO USA, pointed out for companies like Julabo (which produces highly dynamic and precise temperature control solutions), the focus is on using augmented reality to help diagnose, repair and review products to ensure they are optimized for both customers and their applications.

Moderator Mark Sage also suggested that AR is an interesting technology in that its enterprise customers almost segment themselves more by their use cases (such as field service, training or warehouse management) than they do by industry. And he pointed out that for any enterprise wanting to adopt AR, they really need to have strong baseline data to capture their existing costs and processes and then be crystal clear about the problems they are trying to solve.

Atheer CEO Amar Dhaliwal, who was both a member of the panel and also the host for the event (held at Atheer’s Santa Clara offices less than 2 miles from AWE) reported that several strong use cases are emerging for enterprise AR – including field service, dealer service, on-the-job training, maintenance, repair and overhaul, inspection and surveying (notably for insurance companies) as well as cargo handling and warehouse operations (such as the work Atheer is doing with the International Air Transport Association).