Paper based instructions are a world staple for providing guidance on how to build furniture, replace ink cartridges, or use over complex household appliances. With the use of these devices generally taking place at home, there is no need to change this established method.
In the Aerospace and Defense sector, however, manufacturers are developing the world’s most complex products, and in small volumes. The engineers supporting these systems are performing highly skilled and sporadic maintenance procedures. With the lifespan of naval vessels and fighter jets at around 30-40 years, the people supporting these systems will also change multiple times.
Some maintenance checks will take place every week; however, there are tasks that only need to take place every couple of years. Ideally, the vessel, plane, or land system will be serviced where it was manufactured, and it can be supported by the teams that designed them in the first place. However, these systems are usually thousands of miles away, and maintenance needs to take place wherever they are at the time using the available resources.
Using service and maintenance instructions delivered by AR means users can be trained as they service the equipment in a 3-dimensional context using step-by-step guides. The visual instructions give full confidence to the user that they are performing the task as per the process set out by the manufacturer. And these visual based guides remove the complication of understanding the instructions where English is not their first language.
By following the AR instructions, users can sign off each stage of the procedure or identify parts that need to be replaced without needing specific in-depth knowledge of the product. The results are improved first time fix rates, reduced repair time, and ultimately reduced total cost of servicing.