How Does Augmented Reality Address Top Business Priorities?

From operational efficiency and revenue growth to upskilling and compliance, augmented reality (AR) is the tool business leaders never knew they needed to drive workforce efficiency.

AR creates business value in two broad ways: first, by becoming part of products themselves, and second, by improving performance across the value chain—in product development, manufacturing, marketing, service, and numerous other areas.

—Michael E. Porter and James E. Heppelmann

Source: A Manager’s Guide to Augmented Reality: Why Every Organization Needs an Augmented Reality Strategy (HBR)

AR for business is transforming how people visualize, share, and consume information.

Industrial enterprises count on the efficiency improvements AR delivers. According to Aberdeen Strategy & Research, manufacturers anticipate the following benefits of AR:

Faster service times:

Faster training times:

Improvements in employee productivity:

And businesses using AR are realizing a 42% greater year-over-year increase in profitability.

Source: Close the Skills Gap and Usher-In Industry 4.0 with Augmented Reality and Real-Time Data (Aberdeen)

Leadership at industrial organizations are adopting AR to address their top business priorities. According to PwC, CEOs are planning digital investments in their workforce, with 36% planning investments in technology and automation with a focus on productivity.

By now, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced AR as a consumer-facing mobile app that brings items such as your car, wine bottle, or soda can to life.

In industrial settings, purpose-built AR solutions are helping frontline employees reach new levels of performance, productivity, and prevention. Traditional work instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs) are being similarly enhanced with immersive, on-demand AR experiences that make frontline work intuitive, highly engaging, and far more effective. Thanks to easy-to-implement use cases that make a significant impact across multiple areas of the enterprise, AR for business is quickly earning a reputation as a must-have workforce technology. For business leaders in search of opportunities for growth, operational efficiency, and employee retention, AR solutions are being prized for their ability to address their top priorities.

Benefits of Augmented Reality for Business

Service organizations are measured on getting work done on time, on budget, and correctly the first time. When service technicians can view and interact with digital information in a real-world environment (instead of combing through paper manuals), they can save valuable time and effort and improve first-time fix rates.

AR for business helps your technicians follow step-by-step work instructions more accurately by providing them with information in the context of the physical task they’re performing. Machine complexity is increasing, particularly across the automotive and heavy equipment industries. AR removes that complexity with clear, contextualized instructions and detailed X-ray views of different internal components. This intuitive approach enables technicians to drive workforce efficiency by resolving issues faster and completing a higher number of jobs per shift, so fewer repeat visits and on-site technicians are needed per dispatch.

3D Work and Training Experiences Knowledge-Based Work Instructions Remote Assistance

Best AR Solutions for Service and Maintenance Enhancement

We've had customers see double digit improvements in OEE, which if you figure for some of our customers, a minute of downtime can be tens of thousands of dollars.

—Alexander Ouellet, Innovation Engineer, Harpak-ULMA Packaging

Source: 3 Ways Harpak-ULMA Improves Efficiency in Packaging Operations with AR (PTC)

click to explore the

51%

36%

35%

A situation that previously would take a minimum of one to two hours to resolve and perhaps require the travel time and expense to send an expert technician can now be easily handled by the customer.

Source: Howden Creates Mixed Reality Solutions to Enhance Customer Experience (PTC)

AR for business gives your customers the in-context work instructions they need to use, maintain, and repair their own equipment. This improves the customer experience by increasing comprehension and limiting service calls. While your customers are empowered to complete repairs and maintenance on their own, you can better prioritize your experts’ time, save travel costs, and increase revenue through an enhanced service package. AR customer enablement also ensures that when a service technician is needed, they are available for rapid response.

While your busy customers wait for a service technician to complete a repair, they could be facing costly downtime. Meanwhile, your SMEs are spending their own limited time traveling to the site for repairs or even routine maintenance. Your customers can—and should—be empowered to install, onboard, and operate their own equipment with confidence. Unfortunately, paper-based manuals and operating instructions are missing critical context, leaving them unequipped to resolve issues efficiently and accurately.

3D Work and Training Experiences Knowledge-Based Work Instructions

Best AR Solutions for Customer Empowerment

When it comes to quality inspections and field service maintenance inspections, the limitations of manual and paper-based processes contribute to costly rework and scrap, customer dissatisfaction, and issues with employee safety, training, and retention.

Source: Inspection for Quality and Field Maintenance Use Cases with Augmented Reality (PTC)

CAD-based inspection instructions can be created and scaled so front-line workers have access to in-context 3D content when and where it is needed most—from quality control processes to production and post-production inspection. AR provides additional images and video content in a single application, along with clear ways to identify and document quality issues. By empowering your front-line workers with these interactive experiences, AR can help your business improve inspections throughout the product lifecycle and avoid the costs of poor quality.

Quality inspection will always be a top priority for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) throughout the entire product lifecycle. Manual methods and paper-based inspection instructions can quickly become a roadblock to workforce efficiency and accurate inspections, but they’re still part of the process for 67% of manufacturers.

CAD-Based Work Instructions 3D Work and Training Experiences

Best AR Solutions for Quality Inspection

Against this complex backdrop of people and automation minimizing human error is a huge priority, as even a small mistake can prevent an entire batch of life-saving medicine from shipping to where it is needed. For things to run smoothly, it is vital for knowledge workers to be equipped with consistent and clear information to allow them to do their jobs right first time.

Source: A Higher Level of Standardized Work (PTC)

You can limit the risks of operator error with visual AR-guided work instructions, which transform paper-based materials into clear, accurate SOPs that can be easily captured and scaled among employees at any level of experience. With clear, accessible, and actionable AR work instructions, pharmaceutical organizations are improving line clearance and changeover efficiency, reducing the costs of human error, and realizing significant bottom-line savings.

Pharmaceutical organizations are focused on improving workforce accuracy and productivity, but outdated paper-based SOPs are both time- and resource-intensive. And these inefficient training methods don’t just impact production—they introduce opportunities for costly human error. Poor training leaves your business vulnerable to high operating costs, revenue loss, batch contamination, and compliance risks. As your experts retire, your less experienced employees need quick and easy access to in-context work instructions.

Knowledge-Based Work Instructions

Best AR Solutions for Pharmaceutical Optimization

Interested in finding out more about AR?

Read a Q&A with PTC and a guest speaker from Forrester Research to explore the latest AR trends and use cases.

• Recognize use cases with maximum ROI potential • Prioritize capabilities for building successful AR projects • Ensure potential AR software solutions will meet your objectives—before you invest

read the buyer's guide

Read the Q&A

Read our buyer’s guide, which evaluates AR technology based on its ability to address your business challenges:

Source: 24th Annual Global CEO Survey: A leadership agenda to take on tomorrow (PwC)

Enhancing Service and Maintenance

Empowering Customers

Improving Quality Inspection

Optimizing Pharmaceutical Operations

Enhancing Service and Maintenance

Empowering Customers

Improving Quality Inspection

Optimizing Pharmaceutical Operations

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