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Manufacturing: Augmented workers are the face of Industry 4.0

2023-03-20 by Luis Martins

Augmented Workers are the face of Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry has been through several changes over the years ever since the first industrial revolution. Nowadays, the manufacturing process relies much more on digital solutions, that can upgrade production capabilities to a whole new level.

In this way, Industry 4.0 is all about bringing a tech layer to the manufacturing industry’s shopfloor and this includes the enhancement of the human workers. This enhancing process is called augmentation. An augmented worker is an operator that uses technology to enhance his skills, which can improve their daily physical and cognitive tasks. Not only will this allow operators to do more focused and efficient work, but it will also help them overcome their failures.

There are many augmentation solutions available, however Augmented Reality (AR) provides the most important technological advantage for manufacturers, as it contributes to make humans work better and become more productive. Through AR, workers can see and interact with real-time step-by-step instructions overlaid on the shopfloor’s equipment, that guides them throughout their everyday tasks. Using animations, 3D, video and sound, operators can have a hands-free interaction with the digital instructions, through gesture and voice commands. This solution allows the workforce to do its assignments better, more easily and efficiently.

Augmentation can also help improve operator’s decision-making processes. Through automatic quality checks, workers can be alerted of a probable mistake and how to fix it, therefore reducing the error probability. Operational costs such as time of work, water and energy consumption, as well as waste are dramatically reduced while, at the same time, safety on the shopfloor increases. Overall, the continuous development of the relationship between man and machine, and the digitalization of the production process reduces non-value time on the shopfloor.

Can automation be the solution?

It is important to mention that automation has been an essential tool for the manufacturing industry over the years and recently many manufacturers have started to believe that total automation may seem like a good solution. However, it has been proved that it would not yield the results sought out by factories, take for instance Ellon Musk who openly admitted that Tesla’s excessive automation was a mistake. Human operators have more capacities for certain tasks that machines simply do not have, such as creativity, flexibility and adaptability. Empowering the workers with augmented technology can make factories achieve continuous improvement.

Tests have also been done demonstrating that companies can use Augmented Reality solutions to upskill new employees. By not moving away from the shopfloor, they can learn new skills by visualizing instructions, while training time and costs can be decreased. As a consequence, the time-to-competence – also known as the time allocated to teach a new untrained individual and to turn him into a capable worker, who will perform his functions with confidence – will be reduced as well. With detailed training, operators can execute specific tasks with more care and they can also do another person’s job without causing major costs. This means that line balancing, which concerns equivalating operator and machine time to the production’s rate to match the takt time, is assured.

Employees’ well-being, attention span and efficiency will increase with the benefits these technologies carry. Augmentation will improve human operator’s work, which will translate into a healthier and higher-quality manufacturing performance. Factories must start their augmented reality journey sooner than later, as they will, without a doubt, achieve great results with the tools that Industry 4.0 presents. 

Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: augmented workers, industry 4.0, Manufacturing

What is Industrial Augmented Reality?

2023-02-15 by Luis Martins

Explainer video on Industrial Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that enables operators to visualize digital content on top of the physical world. This happens mostly through the lens of a smartphone, a tablet or even a headset. At KIT-AR, we leverage Industrial Augmented Reality to make several processes in the manufacturing industry much more efficient.

But how can we make this happen with AR?

Assembly

Assembling is the process of putting together separate components of an equipment and making it functional. Even though, nowadays, many assembly operations are automated, some of them are extremely complex and require a flexible approach that only a human operator can bring. The use of step-by-step AR instructions makes it easier for the workers to follow procedures and to avoid costly and time-consuming errors, that have a severe impact in production lines.

Maintenance & Repair

Because it requires keeping the user focused on a specific area, maintenance also serves as a natural application for AR. For example, AR can display information, relevant data about an unfamiliar piece of equipment, can also provide X-Ray like experiences that allow the operator to look inside the equipment, or it can also provide data from IoT tools, for instance.

Training

Training is an increasing need in the manufacturing shopfloor. Nowadays, manufacturing companies are required to deliver custom products, which increases the number and the complexity of the processes involved in manufacturing them. Due to these two reasons, there is a lot more upskilling to be added to the manufacturing shopfloor and the manufacturing industry all together.

These processes are sometimes solved by an increasing number of great tools and technologies, such as AR, which can expand the worker’s capabilities on the shopfloor. AR can sort out the training in these new skills, both through instructions and also through simulations. This technology can reduce the need of the worker to move away from his workstation and, overall, can decrease the time-to-competence and the cost involved in training a new skill.

Quality control & Inspection

Being able to visually recognize and pinpoint if the parts and pieces are applied according to the norm is also a key scenario for AR in manufacturing. Algorithms, like our KIT-SMART, help workers to do their job even better as they automatically allow them to confirm if parts are in place just by gazing at them. And if, by chance, a defect is detected, then automatically instructions can be presented to allow the corrections that need to be made.

Cost-Benefit with AR

Overall, the mentioned examples are just general applications. Leveraging AR projects always implies a clear cost-benefit relationship that must make sense inside each company’s context. So that is why we invite you to do that exploration with us, at KIT-AR.

Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: AR, Augmented Reality, IAR

WEBINAR: GENERATING MORE VALUE WITH AUGMENTED WORKERS

2022-08-10 by Luis Martins

New digital technologies can help factories achieve a continuous improvement on their day-to-day operations. However, understanding the journey which companies can make, may not be as simple as expected.

Join KIT-AR and SINTEF, while they discuss the following innovative topics:

  • What is an augmented worker?
  • What will it bring new to the manufacturing industry and to society as a whole?
  • Are human operators really necessary or is total automation the new path for factories?

Filed Under: Resources

AUGMENTED WORKERS ARE THE FACE OF INDUSTRY 4.0 IN MANUFACTURING

2022-08-08 by Luis Martins

CaseStudies_Royo

The manufacturing industry has been through several changes over the years ever since the first industrial revolution. Nowadays, the manufacturing process relies much more on digital solutions, that can upgrade production capabilities to a whole new level.

In this way, Industry 4.0 is all about bringing a tech layer to the manufacturing industry’s shopfloor and this includes the enhancement of the human workers. This enhancing process is called augmentation. An augmented worker is an operator that uses technology to enhance his skills, which can improve their daily physical and cognitive tasks. Not only will this allow operators to do more focused and efficient work, but it will also help them overcome their failures.

There are many augmentation solutions available, however Augmented Reality (AR) provides the most important technological advantage for manufacturers, as it contributes to make humans work better and become more productive. Through AR, workers can see and interact with real-time step-by-step instructions overlaid on the shopfloor’s equipment, that guides them throughout their everyday tasks. Using animations, 3D, video and sound, operators can have a hands-free interaction with the digital instructions, through gesture and voice commands. This solution allows the workforce to do its assignments better, more easily and efficiently.

Augmentation can also help improve operator’s decision-making processes. Through automatic quality checks, workers can be alerted of a probable mistake and how to fix it, therefore reducing the error probability. Operational costs such as time of work, water and energy consumption, as well as waste are dramatically reduced while, at the same time, safety on the shopfloor increases. Overall, the continuous development of the relationship between man and machine, and the digitalization of the production process reduces non-value time on the shopfloor.

It is important to mention that automation has been an essential tool for the manufacturing industry over the years and recently many manufacturers have started to believe that total automation may seem like a good solution. However, it has been proved that it would not yield the results sought out by factories, take for instance Ellon Musk who openly admitted that Tesla’s excessive automation was a mistake. Human operators have more capacities for certain tasks that machines simply do not have, such as creativity, flexibility and adaptability. Empowering the workers with augmented technology can make factories achieve continuous improvement.

Tests have also been done demonstrating that companies can use Augmented Reality solutions to upskill new employees. By not moving away from the shopfloor, they can learn new skills by visualizing instructions, while training time and costs can be decreased. As a consequence, the time-to-competence – also known as the time allocated to teach a new untrained individual and to turn him into a capable worker, who will perform his functions with confidence – will be reduced as well. With detailed training, operators can execute specific tasks with more care and they can also do another person’s job without causing major costs. This means that line balancing, which concerns equivalating operator and machine time to the production’s rate to match the takt time, is assured.

Employees’ well-being, attention span and efficiency will increase with the benefits these technologies carry. Augmentation will improve human operator’s work, which will translate into a healthier and higher-quality manufacturing performance. Factories must start their Augmented Reality journey sooner than later, as they will, without a doubt, achieve great results with the tools that Industry 4.0 presents. 

Filed Under: Resources

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