Field service is an integral component of customer service for any enterprise - big or small. The field service crew has to perform various activities including post-sales machinery installation, assembling, maintaining, spare parts replacement, troubleshooting, and problem identification flawlessly and within the predefined turnaround time.
Organizations need efficient field service solutions that empower field engineers to carry out functions on the field independently or with remote assistance seamlessly. This is where an AR field service maintenance solution, integrated with headsets, smartphones, and tablets, provides cost optimization and helps in solving operational challenges in the field.
There are various AR smart glasses for field service available in the market such as ODG, DAQRI, HoloLens, Vuzix, EPSON, and more. These AR devices empower field technicians with a variety of features like
- Remote guidance
- Shows real-time data of equipment
- Access to tutorials
- Product assembly and disassembly
- Identification of 3D objects
- Integration with existing systems
The AR industry is predicted to hit global revenues of $90 billion by 2020, not just matching VR but overtaking it by a large margin. - Digi-Capital
Different ways augmented reality helps field service maintenance
Remote assistance
AR applications enhance the efficiency of the overall field service processes from resource and skill management, remote assistance, time spent on site, to parts management and more. The real-time visual collaboration that a remote field technician app offers enables the support engineer to guide the field technician to resolve the problem without expensive field visits, improving customer satisfaction and decreasing service costs. Even the engineers can provide highly accurate remote diagnostics and perfect visual instructions to the field technicians which improves the rate of first-time fixes and reduces expensive downtime.
Training
For training purposes, augmented reality is very useful because it offers a real-world training scenario where a trainee can play through an AR situation several times until he/she understands the concept or the procedure. AR helps you prepare your workforce in a better manner for their everyday tasks by imparting practical training in which they can visualize information directly in the real-world environment and retain information. In short, with the help of augmented reality devices, you can train your manpower in a safe environmentwhile cutting down on costs.
Technical and operational self-service
This is more like the training scenario, but the difference is that it is useful for real service events where the technicians need the capability of identifying the problem and order parts. Here the AR application precisely provides clarification of the task at hand. The field technician needs CAD and service content, and contextual content too. While the repair or maintenance operation is performed all the actions and information exchanged in a repair session are recorded as well as documented, which is further preserved as practical knowledge provided by the experienced employees.
Hands-free equipment service
With the use of AR headsets or smart glasses, the field engineers can see annotated information about the product/machine on their field of view while working on the machine. The field technician does not have to search for information on their handheld device or laptop; it’s just in front of them, and they have both hands free to work on.
Augmented reality and Internet of Things – A breakthrough in field service maintenance
Augmented reality, when coupled with the Internet of Things, offers the visual and location-based data in real-time with the real-place interface for the data that is extracted from the connected devices. The combination of sensor-enabled equipment, IoT platform, artificial intelligence and custom-built analytics will help organizations to remotely diagnose and troubleshoot problems, preventing equipment failures before they occur. This is known as predictive maintenance, which, when paired with augmented reality-enabled services will avoid system downtime, optimized energy utility, and reduced costs.
The final say
By now you must have understood that by using augmented reality, technicians can do field service maintenance work with ease. However, AR’s integration with the Internet of Things will empower field engineers to perform their tasks more effectively. This is why you should choose augmented reality for field service maintenance and increase remote resolution rates (RRR), improve first time fix (FTF) rates, enhance service profitability, and reduce on-job training times. To know how augmented reality applications can benefit your business, talk to our experts.
