In the last years, Augmented Reality (AR) technology has significantly played a game-changer role for different types of industries. This new technology is rapidly gaining great popularity and this comes as a result of the emergence of its all-encompassing potential ranging from remote collaboration to maintenance operations. What AR does is combine the real world with the virtual elements. This makes it possible to overlap the digital elements in the physical world. The rising demand for remote assistance and collaboration from enterprises that assist in workflow management and optimization is expected to propel AR market growth. AR technology is becoming one of the main digital tools of Industry 4.0 by being implemented in various fields, including here the industrial manufacturing also. AR applications are increasingly used in industrial scenarios. Empirical studies showed that depending on the use case assistance through AR, e.g. for assembly tasks, can improve overall performance by reducing errors and time consumption

Industrial manufacturing is currently facing a wide range of challenges arising from numerous changes and the need for greater sustainability. This technology is showing great opportunities to help this industry, especially in manufacturing processes, remote assistance, inspections, and training purposes. The potential shown by the applications of AR has made its adoption by industrial manufacturing to have great development. The ability of this technology has begun to revolutionize this field by pushing it towards the digitalization of operational processes and enabling the full engagement of the workforce. To understand just how much of an impact AR in industrial manufacturing has had, we are going to take a look at a few ways the technology has revolutionized the industry.

Businesses operating in industrial manufacturing are mainly focused on operations that are all about speed, productivity, accuracy, compliance, and quality control. The whole operational process often faces many challenges, leading the board to seek more efficient solutions. The use of AR smart glasses enables real-time access to various information and data, this makes it possible to maximize engagement and increase workforce efficiency. The hands-free feature also provides greater flexibility for workers while they are performing their tasks. Moreover, increasing the productivity of the workforce affects the minimization of risks and errors that can cause disruption of the entire operating process. In addition, the lack of knowledge that new employees have in most cases leads to fatal errors that cause millions of dollars in damage by disrupting many manufacturing processes. But now all this is prevented through AR- Remote Assistance. The expert of the center through AR annotations makes it possible to warn employees about possible various mistakes and risks while performing their duties. This, in addition to preventing large cost damages that can occur from human error at the same time, increases the safety of workers. They can also implement AR remote assistance in AR smart glasses, which ensures them with the ability to perform their tasks hands-free and in safe positions.

Another issue of concern for industrial manufacturing is the maintenance of equipment that is included in the production process. These types of equipment require constant inspection in order to prevent possible downtime. In most cases, sending experts for inspection and maintenance requires high time and cost, taking into account the location of experts in different places all around the world. To reduce the possibility of equipment downtime continuous inspection is already quite facilitated through AR technology. Maintenance experts through remote assistance can see exactly the current condition of the equipment and ask the technicians to repair them if necessary. Through this technology, we already have detailed inspections, faster repairs, and a reduction of costs for sending experts to production sites. In addition, industrial manufacturing includes the assembly line which is a production process in which interchangeable parts are added to a product in a sequential manner to create a final product. In most cases, a production assembly line is a semi-automated system through which a product moves. This process itself has its difficulties and challenges. Now thanks to AR technology the assembly instructions are followed more simply.

Another effective use case of AR technology is the implementation of AR smart glasses on the training of the current workforce or new employees always in the most possible efficient way having as the main principle the safety at work. Employees who are being trained are able to receive instruction in real-time and at the same time to practice their gained knowledge safely and in free hands. While smart glasses receive voice commands, allow proper focus, and enable hands-free performance to make possible the maximum guarantee of safety without risking anyone’s life. This is what makes remote assistance enabled on smart glasses to provide the safest way to collaborate in real-time with a distant expert. The AR remote support makes it possible to allow the sharing of files such as pdf, images, and 3D objects and makes a great contribution in enriching this distance collaboration. Remote support is based on the “See what I see” principle and this is what makes it possible to have a more trained and skilled workforce. Data and instructions received in real-time make it possible to increase the trained and specialized workforce and eliminate the need to look for a more qualified workforce while saving time and costs.

As mentioned above, AR technology already facilitates industrial manufacturing processes by reducing extra costs and increasing employees' efficiency on their tasks. AR can improve manufacturing processes, thus creating an environment of interaction between experts and site workers. Now manufacturing processes through AR technology become more and more facilitated without the need to bring technical expertise to the field. We can easily claim that through this technology the right expertise comes in real-time and virtually on the industrial field by changing fundamentally the way how manufacturing processes are being executed. AR appears to be more than a technology, it emerges as a major wave of changes that aim to revolutionize industrial manufacturing. This technology has the potential to optimize the processes of industrial manufacturing and give this industry the right values. This can also be taken as a stimulus for many businesses operating in this sector to implement this technology to greatly improve efficiency, reliability, and security.

AR in Industrial Manufacturing was originally published in AR/VR Journey: Augmented & Virtual Reality Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.