Supermarket Perimeter - December 2023 - 13

Harpak is currently working on the Digital Twins phase.
The purpose of artificial intelligence in an augmented reality
experience, Bauer said, is to enforce and validate specific actions taken
by the user during the experience.
In these cases, AI utilizes a combination of Vision systems data and
data collected by the AR experience to determine if an action has not
only been performed - but performed correctly.
" AI gives us the ability to determine, on the fly, if a particular action
has been taken, " Bauer said.
For example, during a repair operation, where certain bolts need to
be installed in the correct order, AI can recognize whether a procedure
was completed " per spec. "
That level of knowledge, combined with guidance and oversight,
allows even untrained and unexperienced workers to complete tasks
with an unparalleled degree of speed and accuracy, Bauer said.
More accurate, faster performance
In Harpak's beta deployment, completely untrained individuals with
zero expertise performed a complex repair with 100% accuracy and 70%
faster than an experienced technician.
" Frankly, we're just scraping the surface of what is possible here. "
AR delivers a unique combination of " knowledge on demand " in
visually oriented guidance within the context of the actual physical
world, Bauer said, allowing companies like Harpak to quickly train
or provide expert guidance to a workforce, providing them with the
information they need at the right time and in the correct context.
" It's a proven and well accepted precept that that human beings
absorb and process visual data at rates far in excess of written
instructions. For front-line workers this exponentially shortens learning
curves while simultaneously increasing accuracy of any task. "
That, he said, is where most of the value is, especially as producers
look for ways to further optimize production processes. Quickly alerting
staff to performance issues, visually guiding them through the process
HarpakULMA's
use
of AR makes it
much easier to get
workers trained
quickly.
to bring a machine back up and running or perform a product line
changeover can have a big impact.
" For those of us in the packaging industry, AR offers the opportunity
to increase the speed and accuracy with which front-line floor workers
accomplish tasks - in other words, improve human productivity. In fact,
expectations of 30-60% productivity improvement are well within the
bounds of reality.
Internally, Harpak jokingly refer to this particular moment in the
company's history as the " Matrix moment. "
In the famous movie, the characters Trinity and Neo are on a rooftop
when Neo asks Trinity if she can fly a helicopter, and her answer is " in a
moment. "
She then proceeds to immediately download everything she needs to
operate the machine.
While that level of " knowledge on demand " is still only science
fiction, Bauer said, the reality is that companies like Harpak are rapidly
pushing the boundaries of what's possible by introducing AI into
experiences.
" AR is really capturing the attention of customers, " he said. " Jim
Hepplemen, the CEO of PTC, is fond of saying 'AR is to front-line
workers what Microsoft Office has been to white collar workers.' Visual
instructions are not only absorbed better by people, they overcome
language barriers - a huge factor in today's production environments. "
And now, companies like Harpak are making it easy
for producers to adopt the technology.
OEMS, Bauer said, are in many ways the companies
best suited to provide an AR solution.
" We have access to the CAD drawings of the
machines themselves - which are proprietary and
required to develop many of the machine-related
experiences. We know the machine itself - and how
to maintain it. And the skill sets required to build an AR
experience are software oriented. Not a skill set you
see in many manufacturing environments. "
Having sold and " pushed and prodded " numerous
OEM customers over the years to modernize their
offering and create value outside of pure cost savings,
he added, Harpak now has the opportunity to put
those strategies and plans in place.
" Digital transformation is reinventing
manufacturing and production on many levels.
Harpak-ULMA is uniquely positioned to customers
connect their digital threads at the most fundamental
level - the plant floor. "
supermarketperimeter.com
DECEMBER 2023 - 13
AR is to front-line workers
what Microsoft Office has been
to white collar workers. "
Jim Hepplemen, PTC
http://www.supermarketperimeter.com
Supermarket Perimeter - December 2023

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