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Though we spend ample time examining consumer-based XR endpoints, greater near-term impact is seen in the enterprise. This includes brands that use AR to promote products in greater dimension (B2B2C) and industrial enterprises that streamline their own operations (B2B).
These industrial endpoints include visual support in areas like assembly and maintenance. The idea is that AR’s line-of-sight orientation can guide front-line workers. Compared to the “mental mapping” they must do with 2D instructions, visual support makes them more effective.
And with VR, employee training and onboarding can be elevated through immersive sequences that boost experiential learning and memory recall. It also scales given that far-flung employees can get the same quality training, versus costly travel for senior training staff.
Altogether, there are micro and macro benefits to enterprise XR. The above micro efficiencies add up to worthwhile bottom-line impact when deployed at scale. Macro benefits include lessening job strain and closing the “skills gap,” which can preserve institutional knowledge.
But how is this materializing today and who’s realizing enterprise XR benefits? Our research arm ARtillery Intelligence tackled these questions in a recent report. It joins our report excerpt series, with the latest below on AR’s role in elevating Coca-Cola’s bottling vendors’ processes.
Scale of Operations
Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) is one of the largest bottlers for Coca-Cola, producing more than two billion units per year. However, warehouse procedures – such as pallet picking – were outdated, including paper reference lists, tablets mounted on pallet jacks, and RF scanners.
Given its scale of operations, the company was keen to establish more operationally-efficient processes. Goals were to improve shipping accuracy, lessen logistics costs due to inaccurate picking, lessen cognitive load for pickers, and to elevate productivity given labor shortages.
To hit this target, HBC implemented a vision-picking system that utilized Realwear assisted-reality headsets. These heatsets displayed line-of-sight reference data for operators, powered by TeamViewer’s Frontline software, including target items, locations, and quantities.
That information is matched and confirmed with QR codes on each pallet, which are scanned by the headset’s camera. The picked amount is then confirmed via voice command. HBC started with 16 pickers at one facility before ramping up to 1,000 pickers across 30+ warehouses.
99 Percent Accurate
So what were the results? By implementing its vision-picking system, HBC achieved an 8 percent increase in picking performance and an overall 99 percent accuracy rate. The latter is the most impactful achievement, given that inaccuracies cost money and degrade quality.
As for strategic takeaways, the vision-picking system didn’t exist in isolation. HBC integrated it with its SAP warehouse managing system. This meant that data captured by smart glasses was fed back into the system, resulting in an outcome where both systems made each other stronger.
The program’s success was also due to its end-user buy-in. This requires involving front-line workers early in the implementation to instill a sense of ownership. The use case made this an easier sell, because it helped front-line workers increase job performance and reduce job strain.
The latter stems from easy-to-follow line-of-sight instructions that lessen cognitive load and unlock hands-free maneuverability. The result was easier day-to-day work – a tangible value proposition. This focus on appealing to front-line workers continues to be a success factor in enterprise XR.
Header image credit: James Yarema on Unsplash