The shifting business climate in 2020 resulting from the coronavirus pandemic is forcing a larger number of businesses to implement automation technologies for their production, distribution and fulfillment facilities. COVID-19’s effects on the economy, as well as on individual businesses and their bottom lines, have added pressure to companies that need to become even more efficient with their factory operations.
While many manufacturing facilities continue to rely heavily on human labor, an increasing number of locations have begun to implement automation technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), as a way to speed up efficiencies, lower costs and minimize human touch points for social distancing.
Larger Investments in Automation
The statistics show that this shift is picking up momentum. More than half of the warehouse operators who participated in a recent survey commissioned by Honeywell reported that they are more willing to invest in automation because of the pandemic. Other companies, particularly in aerospace manufacturing, show that 42 percent of manufacturers in this sector are looking to implement automation technologies, such as AR and VR, in the next twelve months.
The business benefits of increased productivity and reduced costs are obviously a boon to the bottom line. However, other leading drivers show that these technologies are helping to enhance new social-distancing policies enacted during the early days of the pandemic. The automotive industry saw this first-hand, as the majority of car manufacturers completely shut down their operations in March after the widespread outbreak of COVID-19.
This shutdown had a profound impact on the industry, as the supply of new automobiles dried up, forcing many car buyers to instead opt for used vehicles, which subsequently saw their prices rise precipitously. The automotive industry had to deal with a second blow in the summertime, as many plant workers decided to remain home for fear of catching the virus while working at the manufacturing facilities. This placed additional pressure on production lines, just as the economy began to feel a restart across the United States.
Increased Flexibility Across Manufacturing Facilities
The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the need for more operational flexibility when advanced technology and automation can be applicable. In addition, the ability to scale up or down quickly in order to meet project deadlines, without impacting hourly shifts, has further helped with manufacturing efficiency.
Technologies such as robotics and automation have greatly increased across plant floors as well, especially as the need to adhere to tighter supply chain and logistics demands has been paramount this summer. And while these have been growing in importance for carmakers, consumer goods, cleaning products and consumer electronics manufacturers have also been more reliant upon them to meet the demands of online shopping.
Cloud-Based Automation Technologies Proving Pivotal
AR and VR technologies, in particular, have been showing great promise for auto manufacturers for a number of uses. Such solutions allow automotive designers and manufacturers to conduct real-time 3D visualization and computer-aided design (CAD) for design and manufacturing, and they allow for faster training cycles as well. In addition, professionals can work at drastically higher levels.
In fact, some manufacturers report minimized errors using AR and VR through instructions overlay, remote assistance, and better planning and visualization. This, in some instances, has resulted in an increase in productivity of more than 40 percent. AR and VR technologies provide significant time savings to the manufacturing build process through optimized decision process, which positively impacts the entire OODA Loop (“observe, orient, decide, act”).
One caveat that facility managers must take into account is that not all automation technologies are created equal. It is important to pay close attention to the technology infrastructure and to choose a platform that is cloud-enabled so that projects can truly scale as necessary. Manufacturers are overcoming their growth limitations by leveraging cloud-based or remote server-based AR and VR platforms powered by distributed cloud architecture and 3D vision-based AI. These cloud platforms provide the desired performance and scalability to drive innovation in the industry at speed and scale.
Dijam Panigrahi is the co-founder and COO of Grid Raster, a provider of cloud-based augmented reality and virtual reality platforms that power compelling, high-quality AR and VR experiences on mobile devices for enterprises.