RealWear, a provider of assisted reality solutions for frontline industrial workers, has recently announced that Orkel, a Norwegian manufacturer of compactors and other machinery for agriculture, industry and waste management, has standardized on RealWear wearable devices across its business and dealer network.
According to RealWear, Orkel’s initial purchase of 40 units of the HMT-1 head-mounted display will be used for remote after-sales maintenance, remote servicing and remote commissioning of all its heavy agricultural machinery products. Orkel’s research and development team tested a variety of smart glasses before settling on RealWear’s HMT-1 device, with its rugged form factor, safety features, noise cancellation and long battery being deciding factors.
With RealWear’s solution, Orkel will be able to connect its customers to its service technicians without the need for unnecessary travel. As part of Orkel’s after-sales support offering, each customer in need of commissioning or a technical service receives a kit that includes a HMT-1 device. The customer is able to put on the device and contact an Orkel technician using voice commands. The technician can then immediately see exactly what the customer sees through the HMT-1’s head-mounted camera and is able to help solve issues. Once resolved, the customer may then choose to purchase the RealWear device for their own use or return it to Orkel.
The solution helped to solve a number of pain points for Orkel. For instance, typically its service technicians were required to make an in-person customer trip, which involves travel time and environmental costs. Delays in fixing equipment also have the potential to impact a customers’ businesses.
“Our customers really appreciate the value of the system because we are able to provide a much faster level of support when an issue arises. All too often, our service technicians would travel for what turned out to be a quick fix. Now, with RealWear, many hours of time and CO2 emissions are saved, and most importantly customers’ machines are operational again quickly, which is imperative during the harvest season,” commented Svein Erik Syrstad, a Technician at Orkel.
On the device, Orkel is using RealWear partner VSight Remote, a remote service and collaboration platform powered by augmented reality (AR) that helps manufacturing companies conduct maintenance operations remotely. Orkel machinery is equipped with a telemetry system that ensures details about every aspect of operation are sent securely to the cloud, enabling Orkel’s service technicians to read the data and guide customers. This information enables Orkel to target specific errors more efficiently, in order to guide operators remotely to resolution.
“We really adore this technology because as a research & development engineer, I can watch the work being done,” said Magnus Nordås Lervik, Project Engineer, Orkel. “I’m quickly learning better ways to design future machinery as I’ve seen first-hand the common issues that arise, and how they are fixed.” Lervik continued, “Using this technology enables our research and development team to look ahead to how we might design products in the future from an operator’s perspective.”
“Orkel and its customers are achieving a number of benefits since deploying RealWear’s technology with VSight and Microsoft Teams,” added Jon Arnold, Vice President of EMEA, RealWear Inc. “When looking at the agricultural industry as a whole, machine downtime impacts productivity and efficiency, especially in shorter and shorter harvest seasons. Remote assistance with RealWear is becoming a game changer for the farming and agriculture industry when every second matters.”
For more information on RealWear and its assisted reality solutions for remote assist, please visit the company’s website.
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Image credit: RealWear
