Introduction

If you run a production facility, you want to make sure that all assets are always ready for use at all times. Maintenance work in the manufacturing industry is a big challenge by itself: It’s almost impossible for companies to plan for all maintenance occurrences and challenges.

Now there are various tools that simplify these plans. But are all plans always adhered to and how can we ensure that they are? Maintenance procedures can be planned, but what if a machine breaks before the maintenance happens? If things don’t go as planned, it can drive the facility to a halt. 

In order to counteract this circumstance and to maintain the operation of a manufacturing plant efficiently, you should consider employing augmented reality software. A technology that has become an important technology for maintenance procedures, leading to less downtimes and better efficiency.

Use Cases

1. Training and Onboarding

By eliminating manual and paper-based maintenance procedures, your workers can better focus on the more important work. AR is known to help to reduce the time and cost of training, and ensure that technicians are fully prepared to perform maintenance work. AR also helps to improve collaboration among technicians, as it allows them to share information and work together in real time. This can be especially useful when working on complex equipment that requires the input of multiple technicians.  Organizing maintenance missions in digital step-by-step work instructions will reduce human errors, reduce machine downtime, and increase overall efficiency in the long run. 

2. Remote Assistance

Remote assistance is a new solution that enhances inspections and empowers self-sufficient support processes. With AR you can perform maintenance remotely, which is especially useful in situations where it is not possible to send technicians on site. This can help to reduce downtime and increase the flexibility of maintenance operations. But not only that: it also saves costs and is incredibly efficient. The error is fixed faster and everyone can get back to their regular task. Augmented Reality superimposes the user’s camera image with computer-generated content that allows interactions and visual markings. Instead of explaining each step of a procedure with voice broadcast, users can visually show what to do. 

3. Indoor Wayfinding 

Issue management now becomes easier! To speed up the repair process, it is important to get to the scene of the problem faster. You may not have noticed it yet, but finding a pipe or the defective part of a machine can take an enormous amount of time. This is because the troubleshooting and the error reporting are usually not done by the same person. So the person who reported the fault has to explain in as much detail as possible where to find the defective part – and then the colleague has to find it too! But it’s much easier: Use your own smartphone to set a POI where the fault is. Then the next person can navigate there: Show workers the shortest way possible to their destination or create a predefined route and lead them around your building in a guided tour with SERVICE AR. 

Conclusion

Conducting industrial maintenance involves a variety of tasks and procedures to ensure that equipment is operating properly and efficiently. The use of AR for maintenance has the potential to significantly improve efficiency, safety, accuracy, and collaboration in industrial maintenance. It is an exciting and rapidly-evolving technology that is already making a big impact in a variety of industries. As AR continues to improve and become more widely available, we can expect to see even more innovative uses of it in the field of maintenance.