By using LightGuide’s enterprise AR software to standardize and streamline instructions through visually-guided workflows, one global manufacturing conglomerate reduced errors in hydraulic hose systems from 769 defect parts per million to zero, saving OEMs millions in FTC calculations for final assembly. In addition to improvements in quality, the organization also realized improvements in changeover time and training effectiveness.
In the face of thousands of part variations, standardization is critical to streamlining work and maintaining quality. With 5,000 part variations at this company, the extreme customization caused confusion for workers performing tape applications. The difficulty of identifying proper tape placement for each variation led to nearly a dozen failures over the course of the year and resulted in thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
This confusion came from a system-focused approach to assembly rather than a task-focused build. Old work instruction build sheets compared to customer part revisions were inconsistent and led to incorrect builds being shipped.
At the same time, this system-focused approach also led to long setup and tape measurement cycle times. Workers were unhappy, as their work was unappealing, took a long time to do, and often resulted in errors. The focus of workers became fixing mechanical tasks rather than strategic initiatives.
To streamline the production of 5,000 part variations, plant management implemented LightGuide’s enterprise AR software with the goal of providing continuous improvement to existing processes, reducing set-up change over time and driving proper tape placement to improve quality.
By implementing projection-based AR software, the company empowered workers with intuitive visual workflows and created standard work instructions to simplify the immense number of part variations which allowed workers to master complex skills.
The flexibility of the software allowed operators to quickly change between programs using barcode scans, serial numbers, and other identifying information to begin new builds in seconds. As a result, changeover times dropped dramatically, opening up more production time throughout the day.
Plus, workers could ensure they were working on the correct parts by matching parts to pictures that appeared directly in front of them, eliminating the need to flip through work instructions to find the right part.
Using LightGuide’s enterprise AR software, the company reduced 769 defective parts per million down to ZERO. This improved customer relations and greater fault-free process throughput. Overall, this resulted in zero customer returns and prevented the company from losing revenue.
The company also experienced a reduction in training costs due to the system’s ability to cross-train team members in a real-work environment, ensuring focus on relevant skills, like adapting to upcoming variation.
In addition, the “best in class” training and guidance, reduced changeover time by 10 minutes, resulting in an extra hour added to production time per day.
