Many frontline workers need to implement out of control action plans. These events require immediate action and can occur regularly. Traditional procedures even at some of the most advanced facilities direct workers to the paper binder and the appropriate responsive actions. This is fraught with issues.

5G technology will lower latency of wireless connection to a delay that is virtually undetected by humans.

It should be no surprise that digital transformation is providing tools to address such scenarios.

Simply digitising information and storing it in the MS Azure cloud or making it available on a tablet are big steps in the right direction.

AREA member Taqtile’s spatial computing solution, Manifest, is addressing these issues on the next level. Their solution makes job instruction information used for task guidance nad training, maintenance and diagnostics, accessible via a head mounted spatial computer such as MS HoloLens 2.

Further reading includes the original article by Kelly Malone, Chief Revenue Office at Taqtile on page 88 of the Spring issue of The Record and view Taqtile’s AREA member profile. 

In today’s engineering and manufacturing environment, products, especially large complex ones such as planes or cars, are not made by one manufacturer. Companies have to collaborate and very often that means that your CAD and PLM data has to be shared. Nearly all products involve complex and multi-continent supply chains, which often use different CAD and PLM tools for design and manufacturing.

Different CAD systems may be used by different companies which can cause incompatibility issues when it comes to sharing data from one system to another. But those who manufacture many different parts for many different products can’t be expected to have the same CAD system that everybody else in each of their supply chains have.

To overcome the problem of sharing incompatible data, some companies will buy a specific seat of a different CAD system, just so they can access the data being sent; but this can be expensive, and require a member of the team to be specially trained. So it’s not always the best option, especially for smaller companies.  And even if you’ve spent the time and money on doing this, the data still might need to be accessed in another different CAD system further down the supply chain.

Data Exchange

CAD/PLM data exchange is the process which supports the movement of 3D design data, metadata and supporting documents between collaborating design, engineering, and manufacturing companies. It is often a bi-directional process, where data iterates between collaborating partners, but in some cases may just involve the creation of data for the manufacture or analysis of parts.

Translation

The obvious option is to be able to simply translate your 3D CAD data from one system to the other. Data translators are available that enable data exchange and sharing of incompatible data formats. They are a high quality, cost-effective method of exchanging data between CAD or visualization systems and remove the need to buy additional CAD seats, as they can be used interactively from within your vendor specific application.

If using a translator, especially a bi-directional one, there are a few points to think about in relation to the sending and receiving of data to make sure the translation is as seamless as possible.

When sending data

• Send only high quality data
• Know what your data will be used for and only send lightweight data if possible
• Send only the data that the recipient needs
• Think about whether features and history are definitely required.

When receiving data

• Know what you expect to receive and check it when you get it
• Understand what you have received
• Treat incoming data with care
• Only translate what you need

The ideal solution would be the removal of the process altogether to remove the need for data translation. However, just as it is unrealistic to expect the whole world to speak the same language, for all CAD data to held in the same format is very unlikely to happen.

There is no one size fits all solution for Data Exchange, so thought needs to be given to the type of data and its content, whether it’s for manufacturing, viewing only, or if it needs simplifying to protect intellectual property and to what data exchange solution would fit that purpose.

Read Theorem Solution Blog 

Read Theorem Solution AREA member profile 

The Global Resource Guide to XR Collaboration is an interactive and comprehensive online tool that helps companies utilize XR collaboration and remote work tools for businesses.  The resource guide will serve as a central repository of detailed information about XR collaborationproducts and platforms and include an easy-to-use interactive tool for matching to specific business needs, a feature that will be available by the end of this month. All of this will be free to use and free to share.

XR collaboration products and platforms prove increasingly valuable for business users across all sectors of the economy. These can help teach classes, run workshops, deliver sales presentations and enable more personal meetings and real-time training. Sectors such as
manufacturing, engineering, retail, marketing, education and healthcare can particularly benefit from XR with its enhanced real-time collaboration capabilities and ability to share valuable or sensitive information remotely. And beyond the necessity to enforce social distancing, XR collaboration platforms can create a tangible ROI to enterprises by reducing work travel expenses and more efficiently fostering real-time knowledge and expertise sharing. By 2030, VR and AR has the potential to add $1.5 trillion to the global economy, as projected by PwC’s “Seeing is Believing” report.

The Global Resource Guide to XR Collaboration aims to be a resource that outlines how immersive XR technologies can support human interaction and empower us to collectively leverage technology to support the way we work, learn and generally interact with one another in a viscerally more personal way, to help everyone make the best of an extraordinarily difficult situation. The global coalition believes that by coming together (virtually) we have the best chance of overcoming the great challenges that lie ahead. For more information, please visit the website which will periodically be updated at XRCollaboration.com

For many organizations, the current crisis – caused by the spread of COVID-19 – is creating disruption on a level not seen in generations, placing their collective resilience under significant stress.

The full political, social, and economic effects of COVID-19 will continue to emerge over the months, but at the business level, it’s clear. The impact that travel restrictions, social distancing, and the need for mass remote working are challenging the ability of organizations to sustain day-to-day operations and protect their people.

Based on a quick review of our clients, across a range of sectors (Aerospace and Defence, Oil and Gas, Nuclear, Mining, Manufacturing, Engineering, and Healthcare), we’re seeing the impact of the current crisis. Those organizations that have already underpinned their operations with more agile ways of working, leveraging digital technologies, and building a culture of innovation have both an enduring resilience, as well as a potential springboard to recovery.

We’re fortunate to have clients who had the foresight to adopt remote worker support technology into their everyday working practices, and in doing so enhance their resilience and recovery capability. I’ll refer to one of them to emphasize the point.

Rogers Electric & Machine is an electric motor (among other equipment) sales and service company with facilities in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador serving clients in Oil and Gas, Mining, and other industries. Many client sites are in remote locations. Rogers integrated secure, low bandwidth remote worker support technology into their service processes, originally, to reduce response times and client equipment downtime.

The return under normal operations was already being realized: enhanced quality of client support and rapid response, increased expert availability, and reduced travel costs. Under COVID-19 restrictions, particularly social distancing, this has also provided the capability to continue supporting their clients’ essential services and operations, while protecting both their own staff and their clients’ staff through:

• reduced physical touchpoints for their personnel through remote troubleshooting activities;
• remote peer assurance and review of the required maintenance or repair task;
• concurrent and secure access to digital versions of manuals, diagrams and 3D models (no need for manual handling);
• reduced the risk of errors.

We’ve curated exactly how our client Roger’s Electric & Machine is using RemoteSpark to sustain their operations safely in this current situation.

In a general sense, before COVID-19, daily disruptions to field service support were often caused by weather, visa delays, the availability and cost of travel to a client’s locations, even civil or political unrest. All remain extant, but COVID-19 is going to reshape the way we do business. And as digital networks become more robust, we will continue to identify and provide technological solutions to keep operations flowing and our people safe.

Read the original article on Kognitiv Spark’s website.

Even in times of global pandemic, no one has to be alone. COVID-19 has forced us apart, but technology makes it possible for us to work, learn, and interact with one another, while remaining physically distant. Businesses are being forced to remotely work from home and Educational institutions must rapidly transition from in-classroom learning to learning from home.

XR Collaboration tools are emerging as viable alternatives — not to replace current video conferencing, but to augment through spatial understanding. By sharing fully-immersive spaces with others, we begin to bridge the physical gap opening up a whole new world of communication possibilities.

We are all in this together, and we will continue to thrive, no matter what the future holds. Stay safe and productive, and remember: it is the personal connections we make each day that make us human. So let’s put this technology to use to bring us together like never before.

Mark Sage, Executive Director of The AREA, said: “The AREA actively supports this @XRCollaboration Resource Guide and website that will help educators, organisations and their staff improve communications and collaboration in these difficult times and the future.”

Visit the XR Collaboration Website

Get the Guide

While many manufacturers face challenging disruptions to supply and demand in their businesses, some are reconfiguring their production, supply chains, and services to deliver critical supplies such as:

• A consortium of major UK industrial, technology, and engineering businesses from across the aerospace, automotive, and medical sectors have come together to produce medical ventilators for the National Health Service (NHS). The supply chain of the ventilators is being supported by Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and Microsoft worked with Accenture to launch it in just three weeks.
• Schneider Electric has joined forces with Air Liquide, Groupe PSA, and Valeo to produce 10,000 Air Liquide Medical Systems respirators in France.
• Chinese automaker BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturers applied its R&D to alleviate shortages that affected hospitals and agencies across China and built the World’s largest face mask manufacturing plantthat is now producing 5 million masks and 300,000 bottles of disinfectants per day.
• Honeywellis sharing its best practices at its own manufacturing facilities, and what it’s doing to address the shortage of N95 face masks.
• Rockwell Automationhas shared its commitment to supporting its manufacturing customers and their supply chains with ongoing services.
• Siemenshas also been at the forefront of addressing face mask production in China and is sharing its COVID-19 recommendations for manufacturers.
• Bloom Energy, Almo, and the State of Californiaare partnering to refurbish ventilators for the U.S. healthcare system.
• Sandvik Coromantis working overtime to supply precision wire to ventilator manufacturers.

Access the original article by Microsoft.

“Police, fire, and emergency medical services crews cannot respond efficiently without proper situational awareness. Up to now, they’ve relied on eyewitness, radio, and traditional communications channels for information,”  a statement from NIST said. “But IoT devices, smart buildings, and smart cities also have the potential to provide tremendous amounts of information that remain largely inaccessible by first responders and incident command officers.” 

The competition is asking engineers and developers to create AR interfaces that can be used on headsets such as the Magic Leap 1 and can integrate IoT data to help first responders make faster and more informed decisions in emergency situations. Entrants are being asked to submit a concept and mock up paper detailing their AR use case. Those that move on will be loaned hardware from Magic Leap and other sponsors to prototype and eventually test their solution at a public safety training center. In total NIST is offering $1,100,000 in prize money. Those that advance from the first phase of the competition will be judged on idea feasibility, potential real-world impact, and the extent to which their solution improves on an available technology or technical outcome.

NIST is highlighting four major scenarios for the competition: a wildfire, active shooter, mass transit accident, and a flood. In the wildfire scenario, developers could create an AR solution that provides firefighter with visualizations related to the speed, intensity, and direction of the fire; forecasting evacuation areas; and indicating where to deploy personnel or drop water and fire retardant.

The scenario mirrors real world use cases that have emerged for AR. Edgybees, an AR software company, lended its technology to first responders who dealt with the devastating 2019-2020 wildfires in Australia as well as the 2018 wildfires in California. Edgybees overlays geo-spatial information over live footage captured by drones to enhance first responders’s situational awareness.

Using Edgybees’s technology, Australian firefighters were able pinpoint and mark the locations of fires, burnt structures, roads, ground teams, and civilians on a shared virtual map.

The CHARIoT Challenge will run concurrently with another from NIST that is tasking IoT engineers with developing a smart city solution that will capture and leverage the type of data that could be used by those in the AR competition.

The submission deadline for the first phase of the augmented reality contest is May 6, 2020. More information is available on the CHARIoT Challenge website.

Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) engineers, working in collaboration with expert medical consultant practitioners, Rolls-Royce, and supported by Innovate UK, have over the last week prototyped, developed and seen operational a fast make Intubation Shield for use with Ventilators. Wider applications for the shield have also been identified, further aiding the safety of front-line medical staff.

It is anticipated that the NHS may need several thousand of these shields, with the MTC set to manufacture the first batch of up to a thousand units. MTC is currently mobilising resources to ramp up immediate capacity to upwards of two hundred units a day, which can be quickly scaled up across multiple supply chains in order to meet higher demands.

Read the full story here on MTC’s website

Read MTC’s AREA member profile

An update to this same story appears on the MTC website on 14 April 2020. 

In just a few short months, we have found ourselves in a new reality. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the day to day lives of millions of people and placed safety at the top of our list of concerns.

Our key purpose at this moment is to support the organizations and front line teams that are risking their lives every day to ensure our well being and safety.

As a result, we stand by to support you with as many licenses as you may need of the Atheer AR platform, at no cost, until the end of June 2020. All licenses, on-boarding, and support will be provided by Atheer for free with no commitment of any type required. 

We hope that by helping you better support your front line teams and  customers, not only are you keeping people safe, but also keeping the economy moving.

Let us know how we can help.

Stay safe.

Regards,

Amar

https://content.atheerair.com/en/atheer-covid-19-response

Wearables are an efficient method of bringing real-time information right within the reach of a worker. The Augumenta SmartAlert wearables app is designed to keep people up-to-date while working on the shop floor or on the field. The app supports smartwatches and all smart AR glasses that are commercially available on the market.

“The impact of technology on work has always been double-sided. Some technologies have eliminated jobs and displaced workers; others have made workers more productive. Making workers more productive and more capable is the promise of wearable technologies.”

Deloitte Insights article, July 2018

The term wearables can be defined as any tech that you wear on you and that allows you to receive and send data. Since this article focuses on our apps we limit this rather wide concept to two types of interactive devices, glasses and watches. In some use cases, a lighter version of the app and a simpler device offer an optional low-barrier route forward. In others, deploying more than one wearable supports the usage of more holistic solutions. So, if the target is to provide people on the shop-floor or the field with accurate, timely data that they truly need, which device type should one choose to use?

Topics covered in the article related to industrial AR include:

• Which to use to stay informed – smart-glasses or smartwatches
• With binocular AR goggles
• SmartAlert app
• Monoculars benefits and drawbacks
• Why choose a smartwatch?

Read the full blog here. 

Read Augumenta’s AREA member profile here