Are you a technician or a maintenance personnel holding those lengthy paper manuals in one hand while trying to work on a complex machinery? Doesn’t it seem exhausting & cumbersome to execute tasks with so many items to manage at one go? If yes, then have you ever imagined how it would be to have a futuristic vision replacing all those bulky manuals with crystal clear information overlaid right in front of your eyes on your workspace.
In this article, explore how Augmented Reality Work Instructions are making all this possible by replacing traditional paper-based work instruction to digital AR information overlaid onto the user field of view with those trendy sleek AR glasses or iPad screens, its benefits and applications across various industries, but before that take a look at, what Work instruction is all about.
Augmented Reality Work Instructions:
AR Work Instructions are the digital work instructions deploying Augmented Reality Technology for providing users or technicians step-by-step instructional content with AR manuals, documents, 3D models, images, or videos on their field of view. Unlike electronics instructions or traditional paper based manuals, AR work instructions offer interactive, dynamic, contextual hands-free guidance during task execution to the workers. It scales the knowledge of the frontline workers, enabling them to perform their work on the machinery or any other equipment with greater efficiency and accuracy.
These visual AR-based instructions eliminate the need for printing, filing, searching and retrieving paper based documents or manuals and constant navigation to physical instructions. This often consumes a significant amount of the technician or worker’s time, leading to mistakes and errors which can be turned into a time saving & productive solution by using augmented reality workflows. Overlaying relevant information, or data, diagrams, and other visual aids superimposed directly on the physical workspace of the worker, enhances their comprehension by bridging the gap between the real world tasks and digital information.
Key Components of Work Instructions:
- AR Software: Augmented Reality Software & platforms facilitate the development and implementation of AR Work Instructions, incorporating multimedia components such as text, images, videos or 3D models etc.
- Contextual Information: Informative and well structured content is the core of AR Work Instructions. These are tailored according to a specific task or operation to be performed which includes equipment specifications, checklists, detailed visuals or troubleshooting tips for executing a certain task at hand.
- Hardware or AR devices: Work instructions can be accessed via AR enabled supporting devices like iPad or smart glasses equipped with AR apps offering a familiar interface to the user, but smart glasses provide hands-free experience, allowing workers to focus on the task at hand by viewing AR instructions onto their field of view.
Empowering Workers with Digital Workflows:
The adoption of AR work Instructions over the traditional methods offer many benefits to industries for enhancing and streamlining their operations, maintenance, repair, inspections and training programs while empowering their frontline workers with technology. Some of them are mentioned below:
- Minimized Errors & Improve Workforce Efficiency:
Whether in the factory floor or in a field, with ARWIs, workers have access to relevant information or clear step-by-step instructions overlaid onto their field of view on AR glasses or on iPad screen. This empowers them to get their jobs done effectively without referring to any documentation or separate paper manuals, minimizing errors, downtime while improving overall productivity.
- Enhanced Learning & Reduced Training time:
AR Work Instructions facilitate more immersive and engaging learning or training experience by allowing trainees to view 3D models and images, step-by-step digital instructions or videos in real time on their field of view. AR training makes complex procedures more easier to understand and minimizes the need for extensive classroom and resources required for training, enabling workers to understand the machinery’s complex systems effectively in AR experience.
- Capturing Real-Time Data with Evidence:
Integrating AR technology into work processes offers many advantages to various industries in keeping track record of evidence of the task performed by the workforce. Work Instructions offers technicians or workers immersive job templates to perform the procedure & leave the evidence of the steps followed & job done in form of text, images, videos etc. These are later used by the supervisors to review or certify that all the critical steps are followed or completed in the procedure, ensuring the completion of tasks without complexity.
- Improved Analytics and Performance Tracking:
Augmented Reality platforms capture the real time data and track performance metrics and user interaction during task execution. Supervisors review performance of technicians from the portal ensuring proper training modules are completed & evidences meet standards of certification. These enable trainers or supervisors to identify challenging steps in order to make necessary changes or refine instructional content or technical procedure effectively.
- Knowledge Transfer: AR Work Instructions are in the form of digital content hosted on a server online. Experts can add all the necessary information or create steps required to operate a machinery or a particular task in the online work instructions document. Trainees or employees can refer to it any time for performing their tasks, leading to faster knowledge transfer between multiple users.
Use Cases or Applications of Augmented Reality Work Instructions:
AR Work Instructions have a wide variety of applications across various industries such as:
- Manufacturing: Operating in a complex competitive and global market with traditional paper manuals or computer screens does not keep up the efficiency of the assembly line or manufacturing unit. With AR enabled Work Instructions, frontline workers receive step-by-step instructions on complex procedures, overlaid on the physical assembly or equipment they are working on, improving production efficiency while reducing errors.
- Training: AR Work Instructions act as a ‘digital mentor’ for trainees or frontline workers at any level of experience, providing them step-by-step visual instructions with AR manuals to leverage while they are working. Compared to theoretical learning, AR training enables users to learn in a more interactive and engaging way on their job, skilling up their knowledge & retaining information in a better and easier way.
- Maintenance and Repair: Field technicians can access service manuals to view step-by-step instructions to repair or troubleshoot equipment on-site. With information overlaid onto their field of view directly on the equipment they are working on, allow them to quickly identify the problems, leading to faster repair and issue resolution with reduced machinery downtime.
- Quality Control & Inspection: Guiding operators with AR based inspections improves reliability of the quality management process by digitizing the work instructions sheets. Inspectors can look through the inspection manual workflows and follow step-by-step procedures to inspect and assure the quality of the equipment by identifying the areas of defects. It helps them to guide through specific measurement procedures & empower newly hired inspectors to perform complex quality checks.
Future of Augmented Reality Work Instructions:
The future of work is not about how technology will replace humans, but how humans can implement and adapt the fast evolving technology to augment or enhance their capabilities to the maximum. The potential of AR Work Instructions is vast and as Augmented reality technology matures more, integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can expect more immersive, intuitive and intelligent overlays of contextual or visual information. Gesture control, voice commands, real-time feedback mechanisms will further enhance the experience of users. Revolutionizing how information is delivered or consumed in the workplace, AR enabled Work Instructions are capable of transforming how businesses work with improved efficiency and productivity by fostering a more skilled, efficient and data-driven workforce.
