Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Smart Glasses

By Seth Patin, Founder and CEO of LogistiVIEW, featured on AutomationMedia.com

WMS (Warehouse Management Systems) solutions are good at managing information, but not truly intuitive for the floor worker. This is primarily because lines of text are not the best way to tell someone how to do work; humans respond best to visual instructions. For that reason, most companies discuss on-boarding and training in terms of days, or worse yet, weeks.

Visual Input Enabled Wearable (VIEW) technology rethinks workforce instruction by creating a system that increases productivity and job satisfaction. It starts with rethinking workforce mobile technology with the VIEW device. A VIEW device is a small-scale head-mounted computer with a high definition camera, field of sight display, audio input and output, positional awareness sensors, and wireless networking. When properly integrated with a WMS, VIEW devices revolutionize warehouse operations by bringing a completely hands-free and AR directed worker experience. Today these types of devices are commonly called smart glasses. 

Operational Impact of VIEW Devices 

VIEW technology works with a WMS to help it "know" what tasks a worker is supposed to perform as well as where a worker is located, what product the worker is holding, what product the worker is near, what physical obstacles surround the worker, and what other workers are in the vicinity. Leveraging AR, VIEW technology directs workers via voice instructions and visual cues by overlaying information into the worker's field of vision. The system knows where a worker needs to go and directs the worker via overlaid arrows and highlighting. 

Once at the destination, workers execute workflows in the WMS by simply looking at product as directed by the VIEW device or scanning the barcodes with a wearable Bluetooth scanner. Inexperienced warehouse workers hired for the 2019 holiday season are able to pick a high-value serialized item by simply looking at the storage location barcode and scanning the product to be picked. The system isolates all the scanned barcodes, catalogs meaning via AI filtering, and processes a pick transaction with the correct part number, serial number, and storage location without the user taking hands or eyes off the product. Hands-free workflow improves efficiency while eyes-focused workflow and AI-validated data capture, reduce the likelihood of critical errors. 

Optimizing workflows and providing superior track and trace capabilities supports Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma initiatives, and industry best-practices. VIEW devices bring a new level of workforce accountability, which is of paramount importance for 2019 holiday picking, packing, and shipping. Operations management has an unprecedented level of information about workers' activities. Warehouse shift managers assist new, low-skilled labor by shadowing a worker remotely in real-time and reviewing the workers' movements through the facility during the work shift. 

Efficiency gains are quantifiable 

When a worker is confused about inventory at a location, rather than a supervisor walking across the entire warehouse, the supervisor simply shadows the user and talks to them through the questions using VIEW devices. Warehouse managers can walk the floor and simply look at a QR code on the side of a row of pick bins to get a real-time report of productivity in that pick face for the shift. Workforce management solutions are supercharged by the information obtained with VIEW devices driving quantifiable efficiency gains. 

Just in time for the 2019 holiday season 

Rapidly implemented in as little as sixty days, these technologies can still generate optimal holiday profitability this year. From 3PLs to warehouses and distribution centers, the urgent need for this workforce technology is undeniable. The ability to simplify complex processes in a way that improves both productivity and job satisfaction means low-skilled warehouse labor can be faster, safer, and more accurate in fulfilling orders this holiday season. 

Warehouse workers can be faster, safer, and more accurate. VIEW technology improves workforce productivity and job satisfaction by making processes hands free and eyes focused. Intuitive voice and visual instructions make work easy and training rapid. These benefits can all be accomplished in time for the 2019 holiday season thanks to LogistiVIEW's Connected Worker Platform; built on VIEW technology, it combines Computer Vision, Augmented Reality (AR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and smart glasses so a WMS can SEE and use what it sees to collect data and instruct the workforce.

Ready to get started? Request a demo now. Want to learn more about this transformative technology? Don't miss our webinar "Fast-Tracking AR for Enterprise: From Idea Directly to Deployment" to watch LogistiVIEW CEO, Seth Patin, and AR industry experts share a better way to adopt AR, zooming in on how companies are achieving ROI faster today.

Read the original article on Automation Media here.