Ericsson implements AR as first step towards smart manufacturing

Ericsson announced it is taking the initial steps in the smart manufacturing field at its own production sites by using augmented reality (AR) for troubleshooting. The vendor said a team of researchers and engineers at the Ericsson factory in Tallinn, Estonia, have made troubleshooting electronic boards easier with the use of augmented reality. Augmented reality troubleshooting (ART) is a tool designed to facilitate quick and easy learning as well as information sharing in the repair and maintenance area. Its main aim is to remove the need for Word documents with instructions due to the high workload required to create, edit and update those documents and train technicians. “We found out that while working on a faulty unit, roughly half of a technician’s time goes to non-value add activities such as finding and linking schematics with layout files, fault info, and troubleshooting instructions,” said Mihkel Tedremaa, product technology manager.