A number of firms have gone through digital transformations amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and a Texas-based company, LyondellBasell, recently partnered with Microsoft for a ‘Phenomenal’ digital transformation to increase efficiency and reduce facility downtime.
PTC is a leading US digital solutions innovator for industry, marketing, and manufacturing who have been successfully supplying industrial augmented reality (AR) solutions to the industry, which have reduced training costs up to 50 percent and generally increased workplace efficiency and safety.
Offering solutions for manufacturing, customer service and marketing teams, big brands have been working with PTC to strengthen their influence and workforce with AR.
Japanese automotive giant Toyota Motors have worked with PTC to build an AR communications network between international and on-site team members.
Toyota’s main focus for its AR transformation was to keep communication secure and private by maintaining strict internal regulations for managing confidential information.
In response, PTC and engineers at Toyota designed Vuforia Chalk, an internal AR communications software in line with Toyota’s security regulations.
Aya Miyazaki, who worked on Vuforia Chalk from Toyota’s Powertrain Production Engineering Planning Department, said:
“In addition to Vuforia’s secure connectivity, PTC customized the tool to ensure that no data is saved on iPads or iPhones. These capabilities helped us meet our internal information security standards”
New Solutions from PTC
PTC held its Vuforia Live virtual event in late May, where the firm announced the release of “Vuforia Instruct”, an AR solution that renders computer-aided designs (CADs) into 3D work instructions.
Inspection and maintenance teams use a Hololens 2 headset to access Vuforia Instruct and can find a database of CAD instructions.
CAD software programmes such as AutoCAD create 3D mechanical renders of real life designs, and can improve communications between industrial teams using open databases.
Firms such as Massachusetts-based Harpak-ULMA Packaging are using Vuforia Instruct to upskill workers with AR guides for paperless maintenance, repairs, and sanitation of packaging machines.
Alexander Ouellet, Innovation Engineer at Harpak-ULMA Packaging said:
“AR technologies will help our customers reap significant productivity gains by enabling them to improve the accuracy and timeliness of complex, manual processes.”
American Rockwell Automation is partnered with PTC to bring AR solutions to global customers.
