Immersive engineering is a game-changer for industrial machinery suppliers as they aim to enhance quality and productivity, while reducing costs and their carbon footprint. Their customers, who cite machine performance improvements as a top priority, have increasingly required new tools and products as they tackle recent headwinds such as COVID-19, worker strikes, and safety recalls.
By equipping their engineering and design teams with Extended Reality (XR) hardware and software, machine suppliers can streamline the manufacturing process and provide an interactive, Three-Dimensional (3D) environment where geographically dispersed teams can work side-by-side. The integration of XR into Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and cloud-based platforms enables the creation of digital twin models of machines before any physical creation, unlocking new paths to innovation.
Top XR Use Cases for Industrial Machinery Production
Industrial machinery manufacturers contend with a few mounting challenges that impact their bottom line. Some of the top issues ABI Research has observed include inefficient collaboration, the risk of errors, and the shortcomings of physical prototyping.
Cloud-based XR solutions promote closer collaboration, improve the design review process, and condense prototyping time from months to weeks, or even days with a virtual equivalent. The following three use cases address these challenges.
Enhanced Collaboration
XR is revolutionizing digital design collaboration by equipping engineers with tools to make faster, more informed decisions. Hybrid workstations with XR headsets enable tasks like object manipulation and real-time collaboration. Seventy-nine percent of manufacturers see this workstyle improving product design experimentation and factory layout collaboration.
With remote work being common today, immersive engineering is also crucial for connecting teams in a realistic way. A fully immersive 3D collaboration platform enhances inter- and intra-department synergies, while eliminating the need to physically travel on-site. Besides the productivity gains from this XR use case, it also reduces travel costs and the company’s carbon footprint.
Design Reviews
A mistake in the industrial machinery design process can cost north of US$80,000 if the issue originates in the machining stage, or more if production gets shut down. XR alleviates this problem by empowering users to not only view a design, but also apply edits and leave notes to colleagues. This shift from physical prototyping and Two-Dimensional (2D) mock-ups to immersive 3D design saves time, improves accuracy, and is more sustainable.
Virtual Commissioning
Virtual Commissioning (VC) accelerates product innovation and deployment by allowing engineers to virtually validate safety requirements and production line effectiveness before physical assembly. While VC is not a novel concept, XR enhances its accessibility with an immersive interface for design, testing, and validation.
An immersive XR-enabled approach to VC eliminates unnecessary steps like physical prototyping, and reduces time and costs related to physical testing and certification. This use case streamlines both product development and deployment processes.
Pushing the Innovation Envelope Requires XR Adoption
Customers of industrial machinery suppliers increasingly demand products that provide more capabilities and are easy to use. If these demands cannot be met, even your most loyal customers may begin considering alternative suppliers. Fostering innovation is clearly the goal here, which requires a new way of thinking about production.
ABI Research posits that XR immersive solutions must be at the center of the conversation. XR tools take team collaboration to new heights, minimize errors, expedite the design process, and serve as a means to construct a digital twin of your machine for testing and experimentation prior to production. As a result, higher-quality machines will be shipped out and customer satisfaction will see a boost.
To ensure your organization takes an optimal approach to XR adoption, check out the blog post, “How Industrial Machinery Manufacturers Should Migrate to XR.”