While there is still an industry-wide push to develop and adopt fully automated “lights out” manufacturing systems, a significant portion of activities involving manufacturing still require human skills and dexterity. The use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in manufacturing can help humans perform these tasks precisely and accurately.
Immersive technologies have transcended their origins, from works of fiction to the mainstream applications that now appear in the real world. The advent and proliferation of smartphones has accelerated the spread of these technologies among the general public. While capturing the attention of a global populace, they have also captured the interest of businesses that have taken full advantage of the fascination with immersive technologies. This has led to businesses developing immersive technologies in customer-centric applications, for example, the use of immersive technologies in digital marketing, i.e. virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, being increasingly adopted by large and small companies. But now, as the novelty begins to fade among consumers, businesses are starting to turn their attention internally and design applications of these technologies to improve their critical business operations. The application of technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality in the manufacturing industry is an example of the shift of immersive technology from consumer-centric applications to employee and process-centric applications. Immersive technology has proven to be a natural choice for manufacturing processes due to its ability to enhance users’ visibility into processes and provide them with the right information at the right time, as demonstrated by the implementation of immersive technology by major manufacturers.
Manufacturing demand for immersive technology
Since the introduction of automation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), manufacturing processes have become less reliant on human labor. More and more manufacturing plants are working on what is known in industry jargon as “lights out” manufacturing, which is particularly suitable for areas that require extremely high precision and minimal need for customization, variation, and inspection. Industries that make sense for lights out manufacturing include materials and chemical processing plants, oil refineries, food processing and packaging, and large-scale manufacturing plants for simple products.
However, most of the products produced today are constantly changing as customer needs change. As a result, manufacturing needs to be highly flexible, but equally even less tolerant of substandard. Although eventually, these processes will be automated through the use of universal robots, for now, they will require dexterous human hands and the decision-making capabilities of a human brain. Unlike universal robots with superhuman information processing capabilities, humans cannot process large amounts of information quickly and therefore cannot make decisions based on all available information. They cannot perceive or see hidden patterns in the same way that artificial intelligence-based systems can, so human workers are required to assist in performing the different tasks involved in the manufacturing process, from initial design to final inspection.
The application of virtual reality and augmented reality in manufacturing
Adoption of virtual and augmented reality in manufacturing, while still in its infancy, has proven to be a major game-changer for manufacturing players. It has helped design improvements and manufacturing processes become more efficient by increasing worker productivity and plant utilization.
Interactive Design
Before a product is produced, a lot of planning and design work is usually done. Functional product design is the essence of product quality and a key driver of product value. Manufacturers place great importance on the correctness of the design. Traditionally, designers have been using 2D Computer-Aided Design models to test and experiment with products that are essentially three-dimensional. For products that must be tested in real time, designers often use physical prototypes to test the product design. These prototypes are difficult to make and more difficult to redesign for experimentation and re-testing. In addition to being expensive, it also delays the product IPO time (TTM) because physical prototypes require multiple redo of the model, so each iteration requires time to physically recreate the prototype.
With VR, designers can conceive products in 3D space and test them in a simulation environment until the design is complete. In addition to minimizing IPO time, VR provides the ability to test products under expected conditions and identify design flaws that cannot be highlighted using traditional testing methods. This ensures that the products produced are designed to be correct and reduces the likelihood of product recalls and the adverse consequences of other product failures.
Intelligent decision-making
Manufacturing operations need to be agile in order to keep up with the changing needs of the market and customers. To achieve this, they need to be able to make decisions quickly, but must conduct and detailed analysis of available information. However, in order to achieve safe and effective decision-making, the amount of data that needs to be analyzed is too much for decision makers to easily process and understand. This leads to delays in the decision-making process, which delays necessary actions and ultimately has the opposite effect of agility. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the use of data lake visualization can enhance executive decision-making and ensure that not only answers to questions can be easily found, but also new issues that can drive higher performance and further growth can be discovered.
The use of virtual and augmented reality in manufacturing-related data lake visualization can accelerate the decision-making process at all levels of the manufacturing organization, from high-level strategic decisions to critical operational decisions.
Informed Maintenance
Equipment failure is an issue that causes an unexpected interruption in production and requires an immediate response from the maintenance team. Sometimes, the maintenance team may not be around to restore equipment to a fully functional state in a timely manner. Data lake visualization related to the performance and health of manufacturing equipment can enable the maintenance team to identify equipment health issues that often go unnoticed. Using AR equipment to guide amateurs while addressing these issues ensures the proper operation of the production facility without too many prolonged downtime, maximizing plant and equipment utilization.
Quality Inspection
Quality inspection is an important part of the manufacturing process, according to our technical documentation. As organizations strive to maximize productivity, they also emphasize improving product quality and consistency standards. To ensure high-quality products, in addition to automated inspection methods, human quality inspectors often inspect hundreds of units to detect defective units. This results in inspectors missing subtle indicators of nonconformity due to personnel limitations. Using augmented reality technology in conjunction with artificial intelligence and sensor technology can even elucidate subtle deviations in manufacturing cells, resulting in higher product Quality Standards.
Immersion Training
For manufacturing employees, on-the-job training is necessary to perform their duties effectively and effectively. This process takes time, and deploying inexperienced new employees to perform critical operations can reduce the quality of work and even lead to safety concerns. Training new employees in a virtual reality environment allows them to gain experience and proficiency in performing their duties without compromising productivity, quality, and safety.
The indispensability of virtual and augmented reality in manufacturing will become a general trend in the coming years, at least until high-performance and generally intelligent machines replace us. However, it is also possible that as these and other technologies improve, it will become easier for humans to participate in manufacturing, after all, we may not need robots for a long time.