After an era of Taylorism and Fordism, industries are moving away from traditional management and work methods and towards more modern approaches. Many are answering the call for flexibility and customization–expected on today’s assembly lines—- and more product configurations. With these new trends underway, the challenge for businesses is to train the operators who perform these increasingly complex tasks on products with multiple configurations and get the job done in shorter cycles.
Increasingly Complex Work Tasks
Processes are becoming increasingly complex and require a thorough understanding of the technology and systems used. Industrial operators must be able to quickly understand and master these processes and visual elements to work efficiently to ensure consistent product quality for consumers.
Due to automation, machines now complete tasks that technicians once performed. Technicians must understand and work with digital objects using advanced technologies like augmented reality (AR), robotics, virtual reality (V+R), and artificial intelligence.
In addition, quality standards have increased over the years, and customers expect products to meet that demand. Therefore, operators must be able to understand quality requirements and ensure that products meet those standards. Safety standards have also become more stringent, requiring that workers be trained and aware of the risks associated with their work and follow safety procedures to avoid incidents.
Training your Operators with AR
These reasons require immediate training for operators to perform increasingly complex and varied tasks while reducing errors and maintaining high productivity. That’s where augmented reality (AR) comes in. The 21st-century industry constantly changes, and companies must adapt to stay competitive. Operator training is critical to ensuring operation quality, safety, and efficiency. However, traditional training can be costly and time-consuming. Fortunately, augmented reality can help you accelerate the development of your operators’ skills with an interactive experience.
Augmented Reality to Accelerate Operator Skill Development
The primary objective is to minimize the cognitive load so the operator doesn’t waste time on low value-added tasks. With augmented reality, the right information is provided at the right time in the operational context, allowing the operator to focus only on high value-added tasks. It also provides an additional educational layer to the content/instruction sheets to support the operator throughout their task, while a supervisor can also help guide with the applications of augmented reality.
With augmented reality, it is possible to reduce operators’ errors, contributing to the “zero defects” goal sought by industrial players, leading to decreased costs and cycle times.
Finally, with AR your employees can upgrade their skills much faster while leveraging their augmented reality scope. For example, a junior operator with little experience can quickly master their workstation, however complex it may be. Augmented reality is a viable solution to today’s emerging industry challenges. It is an innovative way to accelerate and improve operator performance while reducing costs and improving quality.
AR Uses and Features
Want to explore the opportunities that augmented reality can bring to your plant? Contact our DELMIA experts today.
Want to know more on the Impact of AR/VR Technology on the Manufacturing Labor Crisis? Download our white paper to discover how augmented reality and virtual reality can help manufacturers addressing the current labor crisis and be a vital component of the future of industrial work.
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DELMIA Strategic Business Development and Marketing Director, DELMIA Marketing