Increase productivity by optimizing your manufacturing processes

In today’s global economy, manufacturers face challenges from mounting competition and increasing customer demands. In the face of tighter budgets, the question for many companies is how to be more efficient and cost-effective, without compromising on quality, safety, and environmental and production standards.

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Illustration: robotic arms and engineers working the line

To survive and thrive in this dynamic environment, companies are turning to innovative technological solutions such as augmented reality (AR) to optimize their manufacturing processes and improve productivity.

Empower your team with TeamViewer’s industry-proven AR solutions.

The benefits augmented reality delivers when optimizing processes

Augmented reality (AR) uses digital information, pictures, and video to enhance real-world views. Companies around the world are leveraging this technology’s power and flexibility to digitalize and improve their production processes. And you, too, can reap the benefits that industrial AR solutions deliver:

Increased efficiency

Industrial AR solutions help to increase efficiency by reducing or eliminating the distance and time between various stages of production. It enables remote collaboration and immediate communication between workers, supervisors, and managers.

Improved quality

Industrial AR solutions improve the accuracy and consistency of each process within a production line. For example, AR can provide information, guidance, and verification during logistics, assembly, inspection, or maintenance.

Better compliance

Enterprise AR solutions support quality assurance and control for products and processes. The data, pictures, and readings that are gathered can provide proof of compliance to international norms and standards.

Effective analysis

Industrial AR solutions enable real-time data collection and analysis. Management then has the information and tools it needs to optimize each stage of production.

Optimized processes

Enterprise AR solutions optimize processes by providing workers with immersive, interactive experiences. Using AR-enabled devices or glasses, workers see relevant instructions, feedback, or alerts in real time.

Intuitive learning

Industrial AR solutions offer effective, engaging on-the-job training and upskilling. Thanks to their flexibility, AR-powered learning programs can be adapted to the needs of individual workers.

Why every manufacturer should be optimizing their production processes

Process optimization is the concept of improving a process to achieve a specific goal, such as reducing costs, increasing efficiency, enhancing quality, or complying with regulations. Companies that embark on a strategy of process optimization usually see an improvement in productivity and performance. The key is to identify how output can be increased while maintaining or in some cases even reducing input.

By optimizing manufacturing processes, manufacturers can streamline their production—cutting costs, reducing waste, and minimizing errors. This also frees up time to identify and exploit opportunities for innovation, resulting in a more competitive product that is closely aligned to market demand. So, by improving manufacturing processes, companies can become highly productive, more profitable, and enjoy a larger market share.

Man conducting visual audit with wearable

The barriers to manufacturing optimization

There are many barriers, both organizational and physical, that prevent manufacturers from optimizing their production and assembly processes. On a strategic level, management may lack the data and information to measure and analyze their processes. As a result, it is difficult to identify where improvements and optimization of production processes can be made.

What’s more, there are regular bottlenecks in the day-to-day running of an assembly line that slow down or hinder efficient manufacturing processes. These bottlenecks include:

Setting up machinery

Only a limited number of trained employees can install or swap tooling equipment between different production runs.

Production downtimes

Solving production issues are delayed as technical support or supervisors are based elsewhere. They may need time to arrive on-site, particularly in large plants or multi-site organizations.

Extra quality control

Performing final checks and completing manual quality reports take time to complete. However, they are required to maintain quality levels and certification standards.

Lack of employee skills

Newly employed or reassigned employees need to be trained before being deployed to new areas on the production line.

Speak to an industrial AR expert

Optimizing production processes with TeamViewer’s Frontline platform

TeamViewer Frontline is an enterprise productivity platform that provides industrial augmented reality (AR) solutions to optimize processes and improve production. Using the latest wearable tech such as smart glasses, employees on the assembly line can benefit from digitization to the same extent as their desk-based colleagues.

Thanks to Frontline, they enjoy faster onboarding, simplified workflows, better ergonomics, and prompt technical support. And for manufacturers, the benefits are clear to see in quicker processes, fewer errors, and improved product quality.

Frontline Make: Using the power of AR to improve manufacturing processes

Frontline Make is TeamViewer’s powerful make-by-vision solution that presents step-by-step instructions to employees just when they need them. Information can be presented as text, images, videos, and audio, right in the field of vision via smart glasses. And tasks can be completed hands-free thanks to integrated voice commands, sensors, or image recognition that seamlessly pull up the data required. Legacy assets like mobile devices can also be leveraged for immersive trainings powered by AR on tablets or smartphones.

Like all the other Frontline products, Frontline Make supports a wide range of devices and operating systems, giving companies a choice of hardware—smart glasses, smartphones, tablets, wrist computers or a mixture of some or all of them. The platform can be hosted on-premises or via the cloud and is easily integrated to in-house production management systems or other backend systems if required.

Thanks to the Frontline Command Center, you can monitor the status and progress of production tasks, with real-time data, photos, and other documentation features ensuring high-level quality assurance. What’s more, you can easily build or modify assembly workflows in-house with Frontline Creator. No previous programming knowledge is required; the system works on simple drag & drop and point & click. So, if anything unforeseen happens, workflows can be adapted dynamically and sent out to the workforce immediately.

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Implementing our AR solution in your manufacturing processes is easier than you think.

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Key benefits of Frontline Make

Ergonomic, hands-free working

Relevant information shown automatically on smart glasses, and interaction via voice commands.

Reduced errors

Integrated cameras and sensors as well as tailor-made documentation features ensure quality assurance and compliance.

Flexible workforce

With on-the-job training and instructions, employees can be deployed at any workstation in moments.

Frequently asked questions about optimizing production processes

Manufacturers implement process optimization plans to systematically improve the efficiency, quality, and profitability of production lines. These more efficient manufacturing processes reduce waste, increase output, and enhance product quality while minimizing costs and lead times.

Manufacturers can adopt various strategies to optimize production processes. These include investing in innovative technology such as AR, scaling up holistic digital transformation.

There are four steps to implementing augmented reality when optimizing processes; define the problem and objective, analyze current processes and identify gaps, design, and test the AR solution, then implement and evaluate.

We’ve done this before. Now, let us do it for you.