Augmented reality
key figures
A fast growing market driven by human-oriented investments
By encouraging the effective and sustainable transfer of skills, augmented reality helps manufacturers to address the challenges of workforce shortages and the capitalisation of know-how.
In France, for example, production operators were among the top 10 most difficult professionals to recruit in 2020, all sectors combined (source: Pôle Emploi). And this problem is exacerbated by retirements and the fact that industry does not appeal to young people. Although it was viewed positively by the 18-34 year-old bracket, industry is among the most unattractive sectors, just ahead of public administration (source: Harris Interactive).
Augmented reality is the answer to these two challenges of:
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Capitalising
the technical know-how of the most experienced employees
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Making the profession more attractive
in a 4.0 factory where technicians become “augmented”
Given the immersive nature of this technology, training takes notably less time (time gains of between 30% and 60%) and, more importantly, operators gain new skills as they are now able to learn on the job. This has radically changed the paradigm for traditional training during which learners in fact only retain 10% of the content.
Augmented reality is also a much more fun approach that is more accessible to everyone. It may also attract more young people who are more likely to feel comfortable with the latest augmented reality technology.
Augmented reality makes training an ongoing process for technicians. Every day, they are guided through each step of their operations by digital features that are superimposed on the real environment in their field of vision. However, this augmented reality solution is not only used for training; it has become the new 4.0 assistant for technicians during these operations, acting as both their trainer and expert adviser.
Operators therefore feel well supported, less stressed by the possibility of making a mistake and, because they are working in a connected factory, they gain more know-how.
Once the use cases have been identified and confirmed, manufacturers can use this simple tool to improve productivity and quality, while increasing their employees’ skill sets.
This turn which has been taken by industry, like other sectors, is driving demand upwards, which is one of the goals of augmented reality:
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Augmented Reality market in numbers in 2020
$19 billion
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Annual increase in the augmented reality/virtual reality market
it is expected to increase by 77% every year until 2023
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Earnings from augmented reality
up by 165% every year
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Main industries that have purchased augmented reality/virtual reality solutions
retail ($1.5 billion) and production ($1.4 billion)
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Main uses of augmented reality/virtual reality solutions in industry
training ($2.6 billion) and industrial maintenance ($914 million)
Augmented reality operational gains and financial savings:
Augmented reality can be used in all processes (e.g. production, maintenance, training) which may directly or indirectly result in machine downtime, non-conformities and safety breaches.
The Spectral solution is currently being used by international groups in France, for example, in the aeronautics, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, transport and chemicals industries in particular. The concrete results obtained after a few weeks of use are on average:
Production (change of format, line clearance, assembly, etc.)
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+ 64 %
increase in compliance with business standards
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- 98 %
decrease in errors made
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- 50 %
decrease in operating time
Maintenance (rounds, lockouts, preventive maintenance, etc.)
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- 17 %
decrease in intervention time
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- 15 %
decrease in machine downtime
Training (new recruits or temporary workers, etc.)
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+ 46 %
increase in technical skills acquired
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+ 32 %
increase in training capacity per trainer
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- 24 %
decrease in training time
These results show that augmented reality brings great benefits to industrial production and maintenance operations. Because operators learn how to use this technology quickly, this accelerates their development within the factory. As is often the case with 4.0 solutions, they cause what is known as the “no turn back syndrome”, which means that operators who try them –and even those most resistant to doing so– pick them up instantly and no longer want to work without them. This is one of the most common observations made by our customers.
The fact that our tools are very easy to operate and adapt easily to any environment means they evolve in step with your market.
Spectral augmented reality technology makes entering Industry 4.0 easy while immediately optimising production and/or maintenance costs. The time you save in terms of training and the transfer of know-how will also benefit your operations and allow you to focus on other value-creating areas.
Augmented reality: the driver of the new industrial revolution
In addition to acting as an augmented reality assistant for your technicians, Spectral is an application that has been developed specifically for industry.
As it is accessible to all and fully customisable, it will speed up your maintenance and production processes considerably. We offer a number of options with our plans, as well as support packs for you to easily familiarise yourself with our tools.
With Spectral you will be able to reduce your machine downtime and improve the overall quality of your factory, as it guides your technicians through each step of any industrial process, from quality control to assembly for example. It takes less than two hours for you to implement this augmented reality solution at your factory and see an immediate improvement in productivity.
Once your existing procedures have been uploaded to the Spectral Studio platform, it will transform your entire work environment into augmented reality images (instructions and holograms). So all you have to do is let yourself be guided by our application. The Spectral augmented reality solution for your industry enables you to very quickly:
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reduce errors made by operators
by up to 100%
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educe the time spent on an operation
by up to 80%
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improve users’ skills and know-how
and simplify the transfer of their expertise
For example, when used together with your CMMS tool or any other solution, it enables robust, fast reporting, optimising all your maintenance operations. When used in quality control or final inspection, it will not take long for you to realise how useful Spectral is – it makes all tasks easier and operators can carry out their inspection hands-free.
All the items to be inspected and the instructions to be followed during the inspection will appear in the augmented reality headset. Operators can also very easily report any defects observed and this will improve customer satisfaction and reduce your costs.
For example, when used together with your CMMS tool or any other solution, it enables robust, fast reporting, optimizing all your maintenance operations. When used in quality control or final inspection, it will not take long for you to realize how useful Spectral is – it makes all tasks easier and operators can carry out their inspection hands-free. All the items to be inspected and the instructions to be followed during the inspection will appear in the augmented reality headset. Operators can also very easily report any defects observed and this will improve customer satisfaction and reduce your costs.
In terms of optimizing working time, Spectral will be by your side helping you to train all your technicians in a fast, fun and cost-effective way so that they become experts in their field. Thanks to augmented reality, your most experienced employees will be able to share their knowledge and expertise with all of your teams. Machine intervention times will be reduced, breakdowns repaired correctly and equipment productivity increased.
Thanks to the Spectral application, any operator, technician, team leader or expert can very easily create an online operating procedure, based solely on their knowledge of a subject. Everything is recorded in real time on the Spectral platform. If there is anything you are unsure of, we offer support packs to guide those who are more reluctant to accept the augmented reality solution as it is deployed in their industry.
Help to improve the organisation of your production processes through collaboration between your technicians, operators and team leaders. Become a player in Industry 4.0 today by making your company a connected factory that promotes augmented reality for improved competitiveness.