Adoption of Augmented Reality in Industry 4.0

April 15, 2021

Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution is the digital transformation of manufacturing or production industries which enables machines and people to be always connected thus enhancing the industrial processes. Many new technologies are helping manufacturing companies to transform themselves and one such new technology is augmented reality.

As massive changes are happening in the manufacturing industry, companies must embrace and adopt new technologies. Those companies that thrive will be the ones with less or no downtime and risks, high productivity, and has streamlined manufacturing operations. Over the past years, several industrial companies have been taking initiatives to adopt new technologies into their operations to achieve their goal of industry 4.0. One such technology that is impacting the revolution of industry 4.0 is augmented reality.

Augmented Reality in Industry 4.0

Augmented reality with its various applications can empower the way manufacturing industries function and can be a total game-changer. Right from the start of designing and prototyping to assembling them, each stage has its challenges. Augmented reality can aid in such complex functions, reduce downtime and efficiently carry out operations.

use cases of Augmented Reality in Industry 4.0

The applications of augmented reality are several and can be seen now mainly in maintenance, assembly and ultimately aims at supporting workers/technicians. Some of the use cases of AR in industry 4.0 are listed below.

Complex Assembly

As we all know in the manufacturing process, hundreds of complex components should be assembled with precise especially in the case of new products which require new assembly instructions. With AR-enabled wearables, you can provide workers with step-by-step voice-enabled hands-free instructions along with annotations on their field of view. The workers need not leave their work station to check on manuals which by the way can be outdated. Result? Improved work process, reduced errors, and high productivity.

Maintenance

Augmented reality has already proven to assist in the maintenance of complex manufacturing equipment. Currently, workers use manuals to fix any issue that arises. This consumes more time and can be tiring for the workers. To resolve this, the worker/field technician can be given AR-enabled remote support based on 3D models which provide instructions along with annotations that help in quick resolving of the problem.

Real-Time Expert Support

If any critical issue arises experts may have to travel to the worksite which results in additional expenses. Instead, if the worker finds it difficult to resolve the issue despite the AR-enabled instructions provided, they can instantly take help from an expert with the help of augmented reality. Experts from anywhere in the world can quickly assist them and resolve the issue within a matter of minutes.

Augmented reality in manufacturing is proven to increase productivity, reduce costs, and achieve better results. Businesses need to leverage the benefits augmented reality extends to thrive the competition.