6 Use Cases of XR Technology in Manufacturing Sector

Extended Reality (XR), the umbrella term for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) is used to define the concept of “extending” or transforming our reality with the use of technology to create immersive environments, experiences, and interactions.?

XR technology takes the human-machine interface and modifies it, either by immersing you in the virtual environment (VR), adding to, or augmenting, the user’s surroundings (AR), or both of those (MR). While extended reality use cases have been humming along, the pandemic served as the catalyst for an explosion of XR use cases during 2020 and 2021, accelerating the rollout of XR devices for work and collaboration.?

Applications of XR technology are vast and increasing across industries, with experts expecting its market size to rocket to a staggering?$300 billion by 2024 .

Manufacturing is emerging as one of the most significant sectors, where extended reality solutions could change how the industry operates. According to PwC research, AR and VR in service and product development could lead to a $360 GDP boost by 2030.?

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Companies in the manufacturing and industrial space are constantly looking for ways to make their processes more efficient, their teams more productive, and their workflows more cost-effective. Since the pandemic, the adoption of immersive virtual environment by enterprises has increased after the realization of?its many benefits, such as increased productivity, safety, and learning retention.?

With XR, manufacturing companies can build more efficient processes while minimizing risks on the industrial floor. The same technologies can accelerate time-to-market, improve product development, and open the door for new levels of collaboration.?

In this blog post, we will explore some use cases of XR technology in manufacturing and how it can benefit your business.?

Faster Maintenance and Repairs

A single issue in the manufacturing landscape can throw a full production floor into chaos. Often when issues happen,there is a need to access specialist support as quickly as possible to get a business back on track. Fortunately, extended reality can help with this.?XR devices like JioGlass ?make it possible for team members to stream high-quality visuals of a machine back to a specialist (subject matter expert) in a remote location, to get immediate feedback and insights.?

Those specialists can even leverage applications linked to JioGlass to highlight the parts of an equipment an engineer needs to work on or provide that team member with crucial schematics and related knowledge repository. Immediate access to expert support can accelerate repairs, and even reduce the need for engineers and technicians to visit a site in-person thus saving tonnes of time and costs.?

As technology in the manufacturing and industrial space continues to evolve, many teams have started using IoT devices, applications, and 5G to interact with machines in extended reality, and make alterations from a distance.

Safe Training Environment

Real-life training activities can involve a high degree of risk, one wrong move could have devastating real-life consequences. Employees’ safety while working with complex pieces of equipment has always been a significant concern and challenge in the manufacturing world. However, XR technology in training offers a safe environment for employees to train and eliminates the risk of causing harm to individuals or expensive equipment. This allows employees to make mistakes and learn from them without worrying about the outcomes of their actions. It enables trainees to practice as often as necessary, get familiar with the procedures, safety protocols, and hone their skills without harming anything.?

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Rapid Product Development

Perhaps the most significant opportunity for manufacturing companies looking into XR solutions right now is the potential to accelerate the prototyping and product development roadmap. According to PWC research, VR and AR in product development could be enough to generate a $360 billion GDP boost by 2030 , and many industrial brands are already taking notice of the new opportunities.?

Virtual reality in the manufacturing sector allows companies to create comprehensive environments where teams can come together to share product ideas and interact with digital twins of machinery. Automotive companies are already using VR solutions to help with the development of plans for various new high-quality vehicles.?

Not only can these virtual environments make it easier for teams to experiment with new materials and designs rapidly, without having to create endless new prototypes from scratch, but they can also accelerate the process of presenting these designs to customers and investors. This reduces the amount of time wasted moving from one stage of the production process to the next.?

Immersive Training and Guidance

Many manufacturing companies support a host of employees working with various complex pieces of machinery daily. Knowing how to interact with these tools safely and efficiently is crucial, and companies often need to invest in extensive training to support their staff.???

Unfortunately, training employees in a manufacturing or industrial space can often be a time-consuming and expensive process. Walking an individual through how to use a new piece of machinery in-person would often require downtime for the company, which can be very costly. By leveraging the XR enabled training, organizations can run the training programs without affecting the plant’s production hours. This ensures that the plant is up-and-running – saving costly downtime.???

Companies can deliver immersive training experiences which help to keep their team members safe on the manufacturing floor. It’s even possible for new team members to wear MR or AR glasses during their initial introduction into a business, so they can immediately check instructions by pulling them up into their field of view with a voice command, reducing the risk of mistakes.?

According to PwC research study , employees can be trained 4x faster on an AR/VR device and work 275% more confidently. Evidently, AR/VR training significantly reduces training time and accidents that occur during training.

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Effective Collaboration

Another significant benefit of XR extended reality is the team’s improved collaboration. The production cycle requires the collaboration of multiple groups, like engineers, specialists, etc., to bring a product to market or complete the production cycle. This could be a significant challenge in a world where people work remotely. For example, people can come together in a virtual reality environment to test a product and share instant feedback. ?

Thus, extended reality XR proves to be a significant boon for manufacturing organizations.?

Process Improvements and Efficiency

XR can give manufacturing and industrial employees working in complex environments access to more of the guidance and information they need in any given moment. This means employees can get more done in a short space of time, enhancing overall efficiency.?

With Solutions like hands-free XR Remote Assistance, employees can get feedback instantly from a subject matter expert, without having to wait for a supervisor to be available in-person.?

At the same time, engineers and technicians can access information and instruction manuals (digital workflows) in real-time through an AR or MR interface, or even have the schematics they need to understand a machine displayed over the top of a device. Extended reality solutions allow for far more streamlined processes in the workplace and ensure team members have more of the hands-free access to information they need to work productively, and safely.?

There is a study conducted by IBM titled: AR and VR in the workplace - Extended reality reimagines how work is done . According to this study:? ?

• Companies using AR have reported a 46 percent reduction in time to complete tasks, and average productivity improvements of 32 percent
• Compared to traditional training, VR-based training can reduce training time by 40 percent and improve employee performance by a whopping 70 percent

Do you want to adopt XR in your business? We are experts in developing immersive technologies for companies in manufacturing, healthcare, education, and more. Click here to schedule JioGlass demo .?