Client story HoloLens: Insight helped a global leader in advanced manufacturing
By Insight UK / 21 Mar 2019 / Topics: Data center Storage Artificial Intelligence (AI)
A global leader in advanced manufacturing solutions headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, it is one of the largest companies in the Tampa Bay area. They have 90 facilities in 23 countries, and 175,000 employees worldwide.
The Challenge
This manufacturing solutions company operates 90 production facilities across the globe with each holding hundreds of design, manufacturing and assembly machines. Collectively, this production equipment produces large amounts of data and is closely monitored by production managers and shop workers through an Asset Performance Monitoring (APM) application. The challenges they face is accessing the real-time data of the production systems, which is currently completed via work stations not located near the machines. Rather than leaving the shop floor to access this critical information, such as machine health, they envisioned a solution that would allow users to visualise machine performance data on the spot. The client began evaluating several options for visualising and gathering the data from the shop floor. With many options ranging from Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality and tablet-based applications, they sought the guidance of an experienced partner.
The Solution
Through collaboration with Insight and Microsoft, the client selected the HoloLens as the device that provided the best capabilities to achieve these goals. Insight led a Proof of Concept (PoC) to incorporate a MixedReality (MR) HoloLens app into their APM application as an alternative interface for visualising machine metric data. APM provides real-time monitoring and alerting on the production and HoloLens allows users to access critical data like machine temperature, feeder errors, and real-time line speed while standing next to the machine. The goal of the PoC was to show the value of HoloLens on the factory floor and how it enables advanced capabilities, increases production efficiency, reduces costs, and standardises training. The PoC will be showcased at the client’s Innovation Center in San Jose, CA. It displays their most technological-advanced products and services to customers around the world.
