Immersive Technologies in Manufacturing Industry

Although the entire industry is still striving to promote the development and adoption of fully automated "lights off" manufacturing systems, a considerable portion of manufacturing activities still require manual skills and dexterity. The use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in manufacturing can help humans perform these tasks accurately and efficiently.

Immersive technologies have surpassed their origins, from novels to mainstream applications in the real world today. The emergence and popularization of smartphones have accelerated the spread of these technologies among the public. While attracting the attention of the global public, they have also sparked the interest of businesses that fully exploit people's fascination with immersive technology. This has led to the development of immersive technologies in customer-centric applications, such as the use of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies in digital marketing, which are increasingly being adopted by companies of all sizes. But now, as novelty begins to fade among consumers, businesses are turning their attention inward and designing applications of these technologies to improve their critical business operations. The application of technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality in manufacturing is an example of the shift of immersive technology from consumer centric applications to employee and process centric applications. Immersive technology has been proven to be a natural choice for manufacturing processes due to its ability to enhance users' visibility into the process and provide them with the right information at the right time, as demonstrated by the implementation of immersive technology by major manufacturers.

The demand for immersive technology in the manufacturing industry

According to Yidong Manufacturing, since the introduction of automation and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), manufacturing processes have become increasingly less reliant on manual labor. More and more manufacturing factories are committed to the so-called "off light" manufacturing in industry terminology, which is particularly suitable for fields that require extremely high precision and minimal demand for customization, variation, and inspection. Industries that are meaningful for turn off manufacturing include material and chemical processing plants, refineries, food processing and packaging, as well as large-scale manufacturing plants for simple products.

However, most products produced today will constantly change with changes in customer demand. Therefore, the manufacturing industry needs to be highly flexible, but equally or even less tolerant of non-compliance. Although these processes will eventually be automated through the use of general-purpose robots, for now, they will require agile human hands and the decision-making ability of the human brain. Unlike general-purpose robots with superhuman information processing abilities, humans are unable to quickly process large amounts of information, and therefore cannot make decisions based on all available information. They cannot perceive or see hidden patterns like AI based systems, so human workers need to provide assistance in executing different tasks involved in the manufacturing process from initial design to final inspection.

The Application of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Manufacturing Industry

The adoption of virtual and augmented reality technology in manufacturing, although still in its infancy, has proven to be a major game changer for manufacturing participants. It improves worker productivity and factory utilization, and even contributes to design improvements, helping manufacturing processes become more efficient.

INTERACTIVE DESIGN

Before producing a product, a lot of planning and design work is usually done. Functional product design is the essence of product quality and a key driving force for product value. Manufacturers attach great importance to the correctness of design. Traditionally, designers have been using two-dimensional computer-aided design models to test and experiment with essentially three-dimensional products. For products that require real-time testing, designers typically use physical prototypes to test the product design. These prototypes are difficult to produce and even more challenging to redesign for experimentation and retesting. In addition to being expensive, it also delays the Time to Market (TTM) of the product, as physical prototypes require multiple model remakes, so each iteration takes time to physically recreate the prototype.

Through virtual reality, designers can conceptualize products in three-dimensional space and test them in simulated environments until the design is completed. In addition to reducing the time to market, virtual reality also provides the ability to test products under expected conditions and identify design flaws that cannot be highlighted using traditional testing methods. This ensures that the products produced are designed perfectly and reduces the likelihood of product recalls and the adverse consequences of other product failures.

intelligent decision

Manufacturing operations require agility to keep up with the constantly changing demands of the market and customers. To achieve this, they need to be able to make quick decisions, but must conduct thorough and detailed analysis of available information. However, in order to achieve safe and effective decision-making, the amount of data that needs to be analyzed is too large for decision-makers to easily process and understand. This can lead to delays in the decision-making process, thereby delaying necessary actions and ultimately achieving the opposite effect of agility. It is becoming increasingly evident that using data visualization can enhance decision-making and ensure that not only can the answers to problems be easily found, but new problems that can drive higher performance and further growth can also be discovered.

The use of virtual and augmented reality in manufacturing related data visualization can accelerate the decision-making process at all levels of manufacturing organizations, from high-level strategic decisions to critical operational decisions.

Informed maintenance

Equipment failure is a problem that causes unexpected interruptions in production and requires an immediate response from the maintenance team. Sometimes, the maintenance team may not be around and unable to restore the device to full functionality in a timely manner. Visualization of data related to the performance and health of manufacturing equipment can enable maintenance teams to identify equipment health issues that are often overlooked. Using AR devices to guide amateur personnel and solve these problems can ensure the normal operation of production facilities, without too many long downtime, and maximize the utilization of factories and equipment.

quality inspection

According to the technical documentation compiled by Yidong, quality inspection is an important component of the manufacturing process. When organizations strive to maximize productivity, they also emphasize improving product quality and consistency standards. In order to ensure the high quality of products, in addition to using automated testing methods, human quality inspectors often have to inspect hundreds of units to discover defective units. Due to personnel limitations, this resulted in the inspector overlooking minor indicators of non-compliance. Combining augmented reality technology with artificial intelligence and sensor technology can even clarify subtle deviations on manufacturing units, thereby achieving higher product quality standards.

Immersive training

For manufacturing employees, on-the-job training is a necessary condition for effectively and efficiently fulfilling their responsibilities. This process takes time, and deploying inexperienced new employees to perform critical operations may reduce work quality and even lead to security issues. Training new employees in virtual reality environments can enable them to gain experience and proficiency in fulfilling their responsibilities without compromising productivity, quality, and safety.

The indispensability of virtual reality and augmented reality in the manufacturing industry will become a common trend in the coming years, at least until high-performance and general intelligent robots replace us.