Zusammenarbeit in der Werkhalle des Digital Capability Center Aachen.

McKinsey and oculavis announce technology partnership in the Digital Capability Center Aachen

Picture of Written by<br>Daniel Mirbach
Written by
Daniel Mirbach
oculavis is a new technology partner of the Digital Capability Center Aachen since December 2019. Specialists and managers of manufacturing companies can experience and test the Augmented Reality based remote support solution oculavis SHARE live in the digital Experience & Learning Center.

Experience & Learning Center supports digital transformation

The DCC Aachen, jointly founded in 2017 by McKinsey & Company and ITA Academy GmbH, supports companies in their digital transformation. It offers workshops for managers and technicians from various industries who are responsible for the operational processes and digitization in their companies. The textile learning factory is at the centre of the DCC. In a real production environment, participants experience how to digitally improve the performance of existing machines and how they can benefit from innovative technologies. It serves as:
  • a unique environment for delivering hands-on capability building,
  • a test base for piloting and scaling up innovative solutions,
  • a go-to place for learning from the leading technology players and research institutions.

Imagine the following model worst-case scenario

It is Monday morning and the production rejects of the textile machine increase dramatically. Nobody knows why. Hectic rush comes up, because the problem cannot be found. Help is needed and the machine manufacturer is contacted by phone. After a long conversation, the problem could not be solved, pictures of the scene are exchanged by email to get more information about the cause of the problem. In the afternoon it is decided to send a service technician on the trip to personally examine and solve the problem. The requested technician reaches the hotel in the evening. The next morning, he must find out that the cause of the problem could have been easily solved if the right spare part had been available. After the component has been delivered by express courier, the service technician can put the textile machine back into operation after several days of downtime.

Make use of state-of-the-art technologies to connect experts with machine operators

This situation may seem familiar to some people. But with the help of technologies such as Augmented Reality in combination with mobile devices such as smart glasses or tablets and smartphones, the scenario described above may already be a thing of the past. Bidirectional video and audio connections between an employee at the machine on site and a service expert from the manufacturer can clarify many causes of problems through remote support and ideally solve them directly. All parties involved can talk about exactly the same thing in real time, thus avoiding misinterpretations during a phone call or delayed email traffic. Augmented Reality overlays (annotations) enable the employee on site to be guided correctly. Screenshots or video recordings also offer the possibility of documenting the problem solution and making the resulting knowledge accessible.

Remote Service with Augmented Reality and oculavis SHARE

oculavis SHARE uses Augmented Reality technology and connects experts and technicians with any device between worldwide locations. Instead of sending a service technician on a journey, his expertise can be bundled centrally. oculavis SHARE can be used for remote service as well as for other applications within the life cycle of a machine and plant. This includes:
  • remote acceptance tests before a machine is shipped,
  • workflows to provide step-by-step instructions to technicians or to the end customer,
  • remote video support to setup the machine,
  • remote support for planned maintenance activities,
  • remote audits,
  • training of machine operators by remote video support.

Use case in the Digital Capability Center Aachen

The DCC Aachen shows remote expert support using the example of a textile printer. Due to various environmental influences, a fluctuating quality is created at the machine, which can be seen, for example, in gaps or overlapping of the print. The machine operator uses oculavis SHARE to connect to an expert and to identify the problem and solve it as quickly as possible. A Realwear HMT-1 pair of smart glasses is used as exemplary device. The smart glasses offer the advantage that the operator has both hands free to follow the instructions of the expert. AR annotations allow the expert to accurately indicate the source of the error and facilitate the operator’s guidance in solving the problem.
Ein Techniker nutzt AR Video Support in digitaler Brille.

Benefits for manufacturers and end customers arise equally

The use of Augmented Reality based remote support eliminates unnecessary travel and reduces costs. The overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is increased at the end customer and more end customers can be served with the same personnel capacities in service. Overall, customers and machine manufacturers benefit equally: Manufacturers offer fast and digital service, while end customers experience less downtimes of their machines.

Contact to DCC

Digital Capability Center Aachen
Vaalser Str. 460
52074 Aachen
Tel. +49 241 8049100
https://dcc-aachen.de

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