When you hear AR, for sure you are thinking about the heavy, chunky, massively overpriced Hololens and how you tried to somehow see something with the small field of view. We don’t even have to talk about the hard time you had trying to tap on virtual objects in the air.

The Hololens fascinated and at the same time disappointed us all. We all see the big potentials, but the hardware is not ready. Let’s see if there could be a different way whereby we could augment the real world with virtual information; the answer is obvious: our smartphone.

 Workers at the shopfloors of some big companies like ABB or Stadler Rail face different problems, which could easily be solved with a sophisticated information management system. Someone who always knows everything about the shopfloor or some places where you could find the information on paper, which gets updated continuously. Or maybe a computer where you could look up the information you need. Even better would have been an App on my phone—an App which can augment the real world with top up-to-date, personalized information with zero interpretation-time.

What were those problems or just time-consuming tasks?

Materials

• Do we have material x?
• Where do I find material x?
• What is the serial number of this material?
• What important is to consider while using this material?
• Who can I ask those questions, without worries?

Tools

• Where are the tools?
• Are they calibrated?
• What are the risks of using them?
• Who can I ask those questions, without worries?

Deliveries

• Where is my delivery?
• Which of all those boxes are for me?
• Where do I have to deliver which box?

Machines

• Which equipment do I need for this machining task?
• Which settings do I have to choose?
• What are the risks?

Tasks

• What do I have to finish today?
• Does the quality meet the requirements?

Health and Safety

• Am I safe?
• What are the important numbers?
• Where is the emergency exit?
• Where do we meet in case of an emergency?

In 2020 a lot of shopfloors are still not fully digitalized. A worker has still to ask the manager for everything or find a centralized place with the displayed information. The real value begins with unrestricted and unlimited access to information from anywhere and at any time for any worker. This can be provided with an App and a smartphone for each worker.

With an App connected to the ERP and MES a lot of problems can be solved, and the work simplified. Augmented Reality helps to make the results interpretable in zero time—no need to understand a map or try to read a long serial number. What you need is what you see! What you see is the only information you’ll need. A lot of solutions rely on indoor localization.

Scan a package and see where to deliver

The worker doesn’t have to read the serial number of the package and try to interpret it and guess where to deliver it. And even if he finds out the name of the delivery place, he still needs to know where exactly that is. Augmented arrows on the floor could lead him to the right place, without losing time and need of brain capacity. He only sees what he really needs to see.

Material management

Scan the material and get instantly all information needed directly into your view. See if the material is in stock and let the App show you the way there.

Augmented Reality can help to provide digital information on the right place at the right time. We all have already a smartphone in the pocket which is capable of this technology. The capabilities of AR will increase the productivity in the company and help to digitalize the shopfloors last centimetre.