Augmented Reality Comes of Age

Earlier this year, I joined a group of executives from multinational industrial organizations to share our experiences of the pandemic and its impact on digital transformation (DX) projects.

What followed was a direct and frank conversation about the realities of delivering change in a time of uncertainty. I learned a lot about how different companies prioritize and how different industries face specific challenges that shape their DX journeys.

It was clear from our conversation that the pandemic exposed the reliance of digitization on the human element. Much of the direct impact of the pandemic concerned the movement and interaction of people, and caused many leading companies to turn to technology to help bridge physical gaps. In particular, this led to the advancement of digital programs featuring tools that reduced the need to travel – by connecting people with other people, and people with control system information or intelligence. A key example here would be the widespread and varied adoption of wearable technology.

From the use cases presented, it is clear to me that augmented reality (AR) achieved a sort of ‘coming of age’ during the pandemic. While many businesses, Rockwell Automation included, were adapting quickly to Microsoft Teams and Zoom replacing many executive meetings, at the plant level the rapid adoption of AR glasses helped overcome challenges with remote training, maintenance, and engineering support. What I find most interesting here is that these agile, global organizations didn’t stop there. Once implemented, the technology was also tested and then adopted for other uses, such as warehouse and transport logistics. This, I believe, points to a powerful approach to digital transformation technologies – introduce it for what you need, then use it for what it can do.

The Right Tool for the Job

Importantly, AR adoption by the leading multinational organizations represented on our panel is a great example of how DX technology is being used to empower people in their roles. As a technology leader working in the less-digitally-mature industrial markets of the Middle East and Africa, I was keen to understand if there was any resistance in the workforce to using such technology, if younger people took to it more quickly, and if there were any tips about how to introduce this technology to the workforce.

An executive from a leading contract manufacturing organization confirmed that younger engineers are more comfortable with the technology and spoke (proudly) of “young test technicians walking around the factory making air gestures with glasses on”. He did note that within their organization they observed that older staff find this more difficult, so they focused on younger people for this application. It’s interesting to consider that this technology appears to be applied – not as a top-down requirement – but rather, as an available tool for those who will benefit.

One of the pharma executives was quick to point to the use case for AR as a more important driver than age. He cited an example of an engineer who adjusted flow on the plant floor depending on the conditions, which needed to be checked frequently in the control room several floors up. When analyzing this engineer’s workflow, the case for wearing AR glasses that displayed control room information to them in a safe way on the plant floor was overwhelming, whatever the age of the engineer in question.