Your Connected Workforce journey
Unlike the mass market, industrial companies typically need some time before they are ready to dive into disruptive technology. This is not because they dismiss the possibilities, but because workforce transformations can be hard, if not approached in the correct way.
To be able to present information in a new way via mobile, wearables, voice, video, augmented, virtual or mixed reality (AR/VR/XR) or simulation, it first needs to be made relevant, accurate and easy to consume for the manufacturing workforce. It needs to operate in a secure environment as well as being suitable for demanding industrial conditions, from extreme temperatures, noise or flying sparks, to helmets, gloves and other personal protective equipment that may interfere with voice or physical gesture commands.
But most importantly it needs to deliver value. Industrial facilities shouldn’t look at how to embed the latest technology into their facilities, instead they should start from the premise of ‘how can we make things faster, smarter, and safer’, and look to advancements in tech to support this.
Experienced manufacturing leaders who have previously scaled up advanced technologies from a proof of concept to proof of value and company-wide adoption know the fundamentals. The best chances to succeed are by providing much better alternatives for carrying out the tasks that employees are already familiar with, by relieving them from the ‘dull, dirty and dangerous’ and making them eager to switch to more value-adding activities – all in a standardized way to facilitate knowledge retention and continuous improvement cycles.
In time, connected-workforce approaches will be exploited to deliver value in almost all areas. But full potential will be reached when total integration with site, process, and client data is achieved, enhanced with Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML), and this reality isn’t as far off as you would think.
At ABB we continue to infuse our 130 years of industry knowledge with advanced digital technology to drive our next generation of connected workforce solutions. We can integrate multiple data sources and collaboration tools into the same mobile and augmented environment, and with our developments in mixed reality as well, teams can collaborate much more effectively, regardless of their location – getting ‘virtually’ hands on.