Davis writes: “Augmented reality is emerging in the EAM world, particularly enhancing maintenance routines.

The ability to view volumes of data such as manufacturers’ manuals, preventative maintenance plans, etc while also viewing the actual asset under repair, is streamlining maintenance routines and ensuring the actions taken are effective.

While AR can help a technicians quickly identify the barcode, and with it inventory stock and location, of a repaired part, in the future the same part may be 3D printed and used instantly.

The author claims technology is going to continue to impact EAM positively:

• Newer solutions will enable more effective and efficient asset management
• Quicker issue resolutions
• Greater insight into areas where cost savings can be realised

Other technology aspects discussed in the source article include:

• Data insight drive predictive maintenance and facility efficiency
• Work order enablement in common workspaces

From PTC’s website: “High innovation and implementation scores propel PTC Vuforia to the top in a new ranking of AR platforms.”

In a competitive assessment of enterprise augmented reality platforms, ABI Research identifies which current AR vendors can deliver the most business value – now and in the future – using criteria such as:

• Customers, partnerships, and footprint
• Platform breadth
• Use case applicability
• Internet of Things synergy
• Machine vision capabilities
• Pricing and business models

You may download the full report from PTC’s website and discover why ABI Research ranks PTC Vuforia as the “leader among AR platforms” with “high customer value” and “more capability than most competitors on offer.”

Read PTC’s AREA member profile.

See PTC website.

Jarrow-based, solid wood furniture manufacturer, Funky Chunky Furniture, has been working collaboratively with the Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing (SAM) project, to prepare the business for its next phase of growth.

SAM, based at The Industry Centre, Sunderland, is a £5.1m collaborative project between the University of Sunderland and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It supports product and process development and the introduction of technology in SME manufacturers in the NE LEP area.

One area of focus was streamlining the workshop processes, to ensure efficient and sustainable manufacturing. The teams used augmented reality technology, product knowledge and lean manufacturing principles to create a digital twin of the workshop.

The FlexSim software allowed Funky Chunky Furniture to digitally model changes to the workshop, de-risking the decision-making process, and modelling production flow.

After testing many different layouts on the software, Funky Chunky Furniture has turned the digital into reality, and redesigned the workshop layout, future-proofing its operations, maximising space and allowing for future expansion.

Kevin Johnston, managing director of Funky Chunky Furniture, said: “We are a rapidly growing manufacturer, but we need to ensure we support the growth and keep it sustainable.

“Working with the team at SAM has enabled us to focus on the details and test out new processes digitally before putting them into use. Ultimately, we have to get the systems right, as they have a big impact on our workshop team. We need to be efficient, so we can create space, both physically and time within the working day, to introduce new product lines and techniques.

“We’re entering our busiest period of the year, so it’s a great test for the new workshop layout.”

The next phase of the SAM project is now underway. Funky Chunky Furniture has received a grant of £30,000 from SAM to support the implementation of new processes and development of new products. It represents 40% of the investment needed to purchase new tooling, installations and employ new team members.

Kevin Johnston, said: “Now the workshop is optimised we can focus on extending our manufacturing processes. We’re keen to expand our product range, but to do that we need to invest in new processes and equipment, as well as more members of staff.”

Ken Teears, SAM Project Manager said “We are halfway through the project with Funky Chunky Furniture and already we can see the significant impact that the SAM project has had on the business.

“The workshop reconfiguration will ensure the business remains sustainable, lean and efficient, and the business has recruited several new members of staff. We are keen to see how we can positively impact the business as we move forward the second half of our work together.”

The project will continue for another year as Funky Chunky Furniture introduces its new manufacturing processes and product lines.

This issue has a related problem, which probably stems from the point at which a company first decides to have a “dabble”. The games engines, Unity and Unreal Engine, will have you believe that it is really easy to develop your first XR project. And you know what, it is. But that is assuming that you can get your 3D content into the games engine in the first place…

Many companies will spend absolutely ages re-crafting their 3D CAD into something that’s useable in a games engine, using a product like 3DS MAX. However, in doing so, the connection to the initial design is lost. Any downstream changes will need to be manually re-modelled, as these are maintained outside of the PLM process. Moreover, as the original geometry wasn’t used, the experience may be “representative” rather than actual.

So, if you are planning on using 3D content in your XR app then it is probably best to find a solution that can make best use of your existing CAD assets. A solution that can read the geometry as it was designed, and will prevent someone having to spend hours re-doing something that the designer already did.

The ability to re-use the designers work will save your company both time and money. Assuming that your XR app might be there to help train your maintenance teams on how to service your product, being able to get this information into their hands sooner rather than later, must be a good thing, right?

Theorem Solutions has developed the Visualization Pipeline to assist with this very problem. The Visualization Pipeline is a cloud based or on-premises server-based product that reads your native CAD, and delivers your 3D assets to you for your XR projects.

Whether you are using Unity or Unreal Engine to craft your XR experiences, the Visualization Pipeline can meet your needs. In addition to being able to translate the CAD file into something more useable, there are many advanced feature sets, that depending on your use case, could make a huge impact. Integrated features such as shrink wrapping, part culling and tessellation (modifying the number of triangles in models) provide many options ensuring that your 3D data is perfect for your project.

Moreover, this is a proper enterprise grade solution. The uploads can be scheduled, and are all stored in an easy to use library for you to access whenever you want them. It is also possible to integrate it with your workflow/PLM system.

See the original Theorem Solutions blog and how the team help their customers to implement the technology.

Read Theorem Solutions’ AREA member profile.

Kognitiv Spark‘s CEO, Yan Simard, credits the technical innovations achieved by the Kognitiv Spark team to create a secure and reliable augmented reality remote support tool and the deep expertise of company leadership in tandem with a strong, supportive network of industry partners with the company’s early–stage success.

“We’re excited to be receiving this recognition from Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50™ Awards. It stands as a testament to everything we’ve built here at Kognitiv Spark and the efficiencies our customers have been able to achieve using our product,” said Simard.

Companies-to-Watch winners are new companies headquartered in Canada, demonstrating superior technology, effective management experience and common traits with Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award winners. To be eligible, companies must also devote a significant portion of their operating revenues to creating proprietary technology or intellectual property.

“Companies-to-Watch winners deserve recognition for their early-stage growth, bold entrepreneurship and forward-thinking,” said Erica Pretorius, Partner and National Leader for the Technology Fast 50™ program at Deloitte Canada. “By demonstrating courage, seeking opportunities, and taking calculated risks, these outstanding companies are key to the success of the technology sector. Every winner should feel a sense of pride for this success, and motivation to continue striving to succeed in the future.”

ABOUT THE DELOITTE TECHNOLOGY FAST 50™

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program is Canada’s pre-eminent technology awards program. Celebrating business growth, innovation and entrepreneurship, the program features three distinct categories including the Technology Fast 50 Ranking, Enterprise Fast 15 category (recognizes fastest-growing enterprise-level technology, media, and telecommunications companies by revenue-growth percentage over their last four years of operation), and Companies-to-Watch Awards (early-stage Canadian tech companies with the potential to be a future Deloitte Technology Fast 50 candidate). Program sponsors include Deloitte, Bank of Montreal, CBRE, First West Capital, Miller Thomson, OMERS Ventures, 3C, and Lafond.

See Kognitiv Spark’s AREA member profile.

ABOUT KOGNITIV SPARK

Kognitiv Spark is a proven leader in secure and reliable applications of augmented reality software for industrial organizations. Its flagship solution, RemoteSpark, connects remote workers to subject matter experts to facilitate complex troubleshooting and task support, reducing equipment downtime and cutting costly expert travel. Using the Microsoft HoloLens, RemoteSpark allows for shared a voice and video connection between expert and remote users, multi-step animated holograms, task-relevant content delivery, field-of-view annotations, and IoT data integrations. RemoteSpark’s backend can be run both in cloud and on-premise computing environments.

The ruggedized HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems allow enterprise organizations to run the RemoteSpark holographic remote worker support platform on their own private networks. Enterprise organizations now have the choice to operate this Mixed Reality system in the public cloud or on their own networks, allowing for more flexibility when optimizing remote support processes while taking into account an organization’s data governance policies. 

“Our client’s and prospect’s data can now live in the location defined by their policies without compromising processing speed, network and data bandwidth, or how the product functions,” said Ryan Groom, CTO and Co-Founder of Kognitiv Spark. “This gives them the flexibility to operate their remote support solutions in the cloud or own their own networks leveraging HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems. We’re looking forward to the future of our partnership as we move toward larger project deployments.” 

RemoteSpark, designed to help remote workers complete complex maintenance and repair tasks, runs on the Microsoft HoloLens 1 & 2, Surface Hub 2 and Windows 10 PCs with the backend on the Azure Cloud platform, Azure Stack HCI, and HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems.

On-premise and edge computing solutions are often sought by organizations operating in data-sensitive industries like aerospace manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, defense and others which have data governance policies requiring data to be processed and stored on their own privately controlled networks.

These policies have been a barrier to the adoption of Mixed Reality technologies in a number of enterprise organizations due to cloud-exclusive requirements of existing solutions. RemoteSpark housed on HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems gives organizations the option to deploy remote worker support where they need it while at the same time ensuring ultra-low latency, reducing network costs, and avoiding issues with network connectivity. 

“Partners like Kognitiv Spark and their innovative solutions like RemoteSpark are exactly why HPE created a new product category called HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems. Having purpose-built, edge optimized solutions that can run standard platforms like Azure Stack and Azure Stack HCI makes it much easier for our partners to offer their solutions unmodified at the edge”, said Tripp Partain, CTO of HPE Converged Servers, Edge, and IoT Systems.  

The HPE Edgeline combined with RemoteSpark’s secure, low-bandwidth, Mixed Reality communications delivers a new dimension of industrial productivity and fulfils on the promise of industrial Mixed Reality or organizations of all sizes. 

The Enterprise AR Platforms assessment analyzed 8 AR platform players operating today: PTC, Ubimax, RE’FLEKT, Atheer, Upskill, ScopeAR, Librestream, and Fieldbit. Scoring criteria were split across present day (implementation) and forward looking (innovation) criteria. Implementation criteria included customers/partnerships/footprint, platform breadth, device support, user experience options, accessibility, and pricing. Innovation criteria included use case applicability, IoT synergy, cloud connectivity, machine vision capabilities, data visualization capabilities, and transformative technology capabilities.

“The most competitive players in augmented reality platforms today are able to serve a few key use cases, while also allowing flexibility in offering throughout the lifetime of a customer engagement,” says Eric Abbruzzese, Research Director at ABI Research. “Over the past few years, showcasing value to a customer was limited to the pilot phase and small-scale engagements. Today, there is still the need to show upfront ROI potential at this scale, but equally important is an ability to scale up with the customer as they grow in number of users and types of use cases. The most competitive operators are able to span these needs, while adding value through differentiated portfolio offerings.”

PTC takes the top spot for a couple primary reasons: broad and deep AR capabilities are backed up with value-add offerings and impactful enabling technologies. Augmented reality has seen a strong growth in industrial markets, where PTC is already strong and can leverage their existing products like Creo and Windchill to strengthen related aspects of an AR implementation. Ubimax and RE’FLEKT take the second and third spots; Ubimax is a leader in platform breadth and device support allowing for great flexibility and capability for growth, while RE’FLEKT offers a unique approach to content creation and distribution for customers.

This assessment is of course not inclusive of all AR competitors. There are numerous use-case focused players that purposefully limit platform breadth in order to maximize value around a specific use case or application. At the same time, there is increasing desire for AR platforms that can perform in multiple areas. This can include supporting numerous use cases with a single platform, such as remote expertise, training, and data logging, but can also include enabling technologies like machine vision and SLAM tracking, device management, and content creation. These technologies are often differentiators in this space, with companies expanding their portfolio reach and overall value through them.

There are nearly infinite variables involved in a proper augmented reality investment and implementation, all of which can prove to be a potential barrier. With the right enabling platform, these variables and barriers can be minimized, leading to faster and more complete ROI. “Not every customer needs a complete end-to-end solution, and certain aspects of a partner will be relevant based on a customer’s KPIs, examining target use cases, environment, and workflows. A proper understanding of competitive strengths and weaknesses across key areas will help make partnership opportunities clearer and more effective,” concludes Abbruzzese.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Enterprise Augmented Reality Platforms competitive assessment report. This report is part of the company’s Augmented and Virtual Reality research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Competitive Assessment reports offer comprehensive analysis of implementation strategies and innovation to offer unparalleled insight into a company’s performance and standing in comparison to its competitors.

Read PTC’s AREA member profile.

The RELS (Remote Expert Live Support) system uses Atheer’s Augmented Reality management platform and RealWear’s HMT-1 head mounted device to connect Retailer technicians to Volkswagen Group UK Technical Support experts based in Milton Keynes.

Using RELS, technicians can get real-time live support, access technical documents with a few simple voice commands, and improve their skills with just-in-time training. RELS is a vital part of Volkswagen Group’s plan to service the 22 million new electric vehicles it plans to produce over the next 10 years.

RELS deployment began with a select collection of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle Retailers in 2018 and was further expanded to a group of Volkswagen Passenger Car and Audi Retailers that specialise in electric vehicles.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles currently use Volkswagen Group UK’s Loan Tool Scheme to deliver the headsets to their Retailers. Using the Loan Tool Scheme, Technical Support Experts can deploy a RELS headset direct to a Retailer via the parts delivery process within 48 hours! Once a RELS call has taken place, the Retailer simply returns the headset using the parts system. Over the coming months, the RELS project will be extended to SEAT & ŠKODA Retailers across the UK.

The introduction of RELS comes at a pivotal moment. In March of 2019, the Volkswagen Group announced plans to launch almost 70 new electric vehicles over the next 10 years – meaning that the projected number of vehicles to be built on the Group’s electric platforms in the next decade will grow to 22 million. The Group’s highly-anticipated new vehicles include the 2019 launched AUDI e-tron, Volkswagen ID.3, ID. CROZZ2, ID. BUZZ ID. VIZZION, as well as the SEAT el-born and the ŠKODA Vision E among others.

Dr. Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, provided a broader context for initiatives like RELS in his recent announcement of Volkswagen’s accelerated introduction of new electric vehicles.

“Volkswagen is seeking to provide individual mobility for millions of people for years to come – individual mobility that is safer, cleaner and fully connected,” he said. “In order to shoulder the investments needed for the electric offensive we must make further improvements in efficiency and performance in all areas.”

How Will RELS Improve The Efficiency Of Aftersales Operations?

The roll-out of electric vehicles represents a generational change for the automotive industry. And Volkswagen Group recognizes the need for an entirely new kind of infrastructure to support 22 million electric vehicles by 2028. This includes everything from redesigned supply chains to a network of fast-charging stations throughout Europe.

These infrastructure changes represent a paradigm shift for aftersales operations.

Volkswagen Group is ready to transform the layout of its service bays to accommodate a new generation of vehicles. The Group is investing in new equipment, procedures, and skills training for its experts and technicians while improving its already high levels of customer service.

RELS supports these changes by providing Volkswagen Group UK Retailer technicians the guidance and real-time support they need for the next generation of electric vehicles. When technicians access the Atheer Augmented Reality Management Platform with RealWear HMT-1 headsets, they become connected workers with instant access to Volkswagen’s knowledge base. The system is intuitive, so anyone can learn to use it just minutes after putting it on.

With the availability of RELS, Volkswagen Group UK electric vehicle experts, based in Milton Keynes, can now provide real-time guidance to connected workers at any Volkswagen or Audi service bay, anywhere in the UK. This will save a tremendous amount of time and money, as experts will no longer need to travel to individual Retailers to complete challenging repairs.

When connected workers use RELS, experts can “see what they see” and respond with appropriate suggestions. This is how RELS will give Retailer technicians the ability to fix new vehicles faster.

Technicians using the Atheer Augmented Reality Platform and RealWear HMT-1 headsets are able to access the right information at the right time. With a few simple voice commands, these connected workers can retrieve technical documents for any vehicle they might encounter, enabling instant knowledge transfer. This way, technicians spend less time searching for paperwork and more time on repairs. Higher efficiency and less time in the shop leads to more customer satisfaction.

How Will Atheer and RealWear Impact Customer Service Within Volkswagen Group UK Retailers?

“We have worked with many teams researching the potential impact of Augmented Reality on their business operations. The Volkswagen Group UK team operating out of Milton Keynes is without a doubt among the best informed, creative, and innovative that we have had the pleasure of working with,” said Amar Dhaliwal, CEO of Atheer. “We are honoured to help Volkswagen Group UK set the bar for customer service of next generation vehicles.”

The team at Volkswagen Group UK is led by Metin Tahsin, Group Technical Support Manager. Metin’s team manages Technical Support and Technical Service Centres, and provides support to all Volkswagen Group UK brands (Audi, Volkswagen, Škoda, SEAT and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles). It delivers both proactive and reactive support to the Volkswagen Group UK’s five brand networks.

Metin measures the performance of Volkswagen Group UK’s business on key performance indicators relating to performance, volume, speed of response and Retailer satisfaction.

“RELS enables our Technical Service Centre to support Volkswagen Group’s innovative new vehicles with industry-leading customer service, reliability and safety,” he said. “We have seen the power of Augmented Reality and believe it will be a major driver to transform the way we service and maintain the millions of new Volkswagen Group vehicles that will hit in the road the next few years. And we value Atheer’s partnership and the power of the Atheer platform in making this a reality.”

According to Atheer advisor Salim Murr – who led, in succession, the Technical Service Department, Warranty Department, and the Logistics Department at BMW of North America’s U.S. Headquarters  – Volkswagen’s forward-thinking approach to Augmented Reality meets a key industry business need.

“The pace of innovation in the automotive industry continues to accelerate and is placing unprecedented pressure on the aftersales operations of Retailers. How do they provide the experience their customers expect while achieving the service margins their business needs? “ he said, “Augmented Reality has the ability to radically and quickly re-orient automotive Retailer service and warranty operations to meet these vital goals.”

The RealWear HMT-1 allows connected workers to access the Atheer platform in a form factor they can wear throughout the day. HMT-1 features an adjustable screen which mimics a 7-inch tablet held at arm’s length. The lightweight HMT-1 headset is totally voice-operated, so Volkswagen Group UK technicians can access the Atheer Augmented Reality Management Platform in any situation, even in noisy service bays, by leveraging the four microphones and advanced algorithms of the HMT-1 to perform noise cancellation prior to voice recognition.

RealWear HMT-1 is drop-proof from a height of 2 meters, and the HMT-1 battery lasts up to 10 hours. This means Volkswagen Group UK technicians can access Atheer’s Augmented Reality Management Platform throughout a full shift without any loss in productivity. Streaming video through the remote guidance features of Atheer’s platform uses more power, but even then a technician can ‘hot swap’ a battery in seconds without losing their place.

“Volkswagen has always been at the forefront of innovation,” said Andy Lowery, CEO of RealWear. “We are proud to partner with Atheer on this milestone initiative to promote Volkswagen’s goals of better customer service and higher-quality aftersales support with HMT-1 and Atheer’s connected worker solutions.”

Initial research focuses on enabling the real-time monitoring of field technicians to ensure their safety and to provide audiovisual assistance to perform asset maintenance, with the hope of adopting lightweight yet robust wearable devices, GlobalData noted.

These features of wearable technology encourage oil and gas companies to adopt helmets, smart glasses, wristbands and other devices that incorporate technologies such as wireless connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR).

Ravindra Puranik, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, said, “Mobility is considered as the main driver and precursor to implementing any wearable technology in the oil and gas industry. Ever since the evolution of digital technologies, companies in the oil and gas sector are using industry-grade smartphones to capture field-level data and exchange information with onshore experts.”

“Instead of handheld smartphones, hands-free devices will increase work efficiency among the frontline workforce. Through different applications, wearable smart devices are expected to bring a paradigm shift in oil and gas field operations,” he added.

Wearable devices are also designed to provide safety to field staff by monitoring the wearer’s health condition, alerting them from exposure to potential hazards and also providing access to live locations of workers to the onshore support team. This, in turn, provides a sense of security among the workers and increases productivity.

“The oil and gas industry is integrating wearable tech with inspection and maintenance technologies to improve data collection and minimise risk to its workforce. Wearable devices in the oil and gas industry are made to withstand extreme temperature variations and resist oil, chemical spills, heavy rain, and dust among other things, making the working environment more secure,” he stated.

GlobalData’s thematic research identifies oil and gas companies, such as BP and Shell, among the leading adopters of wearable technology. In addition to these, several other companies, including Saudi Aramco, Eni, Marathon Petroleum, Chevron, ExxonMobil (AREA member), Baker Hughes, Schlumberger and NOV, have also started to incorporate wearable technology into their operations.

A 20-minute online survey was conducted with over 3,000 decision makers at enterprise companies across the US, UK, Germany, France, China, and Japan who were currently involved in IoT. The research included business decision makers (BDMs), IT decision makers (ITDMs), and developers from a range of industries such as manufacturing, retail/wholesale, government, transportation, healthcare, and more.

In the commercial arena, the Internet of Things continues to grow in popularity. Business decision makers, IT decision makers, and developers at enterprise-size commercial organizations are incorporating IoT into their businesses at high rates, and the overwhelming majority is satisfied with the business results. As an outcome, companies are increasingly eager to adopt IoT.

The enthusiasm for IoT adoption is global, and it also crosses industries. Among the enterprise IoT decision makers we surveyed, 85% say they have at least one IoT project in either the learning, proof of concept, purchase, or use phase, with many reporting they have one or more projects currently in ‘use’.

Adoption rates are similar across surveyed countries (US, UK, Germany, France, China, and Japan) and core industries (manufacturing, retail/wholesale, transportation, government, and healthcare).

The report can be read in full here.