Aegis Software, a global provider of Manufacturing Execution Software (MES), announces FactoryOptix®, a unique technology that integrates human assembly operations directly into the automated Industry 4.0 environment, using Augmented Reality as a an additional method to deliver FactoryLogix paperless work-instructions.
The human operator is the most flexible production asset, and yet is excluded from most discussions and implementations of manufacturing automation, leaving uncertainty and doubt in the accuracy of KPIs, and risk in operational decision-making. Aegis FactoryLogix, IIoT-driven MES, brings two digital worlds together in a single solution, for automation featuring the IPC Connected Factory Exchange (CFX), and for human assembly, test and inspection operations featuring Augmented Reality (AR). Unlike other AR demonstrations in manufacturing, FactoryOptix utilizes the same internal digital product model to provide all of the data and documentation needed for AR to work, meaning that cost of ownership and configuration is unchanged from the existing best-in-class FactoryLogix paperless work instruction solution.
FactoryOptix can double the productivity of human operators, simply by enabling the use of both hands at all times, not having to pick up barcode readers, use keyboards or a mouse, nor even having to look away to read work-instructions from a screen. The latest AR hardware has good battery life and is light enough to allow long-term usage throughout the day without fatigue, in the same way as a heads-up display that features in many cars today. The view through the AR glasses provides critical step-by-step instructions, with confirmation from the operator that each operation is done. Feedback from the operator is captured simply using voice recognition for commands and actions, with barcodes read by the glasses automatically when instructed to do so.
The automated environment for the operator is stress-free, with less dependency on narrowly-focused specific skills, meaning that operators are more flexible to work on different tasks, products and variants, without risk of “memory-driven defects”. Human operators become more broadly skilled, providing flexibility in the factory to adapt to changing manufacturing demands as is to be expected in the high-mix Industry 4.0 environment.
Industry 4.0 digitalization is incomplete without integrated Augmented Reality. FactoryOptix as a part of FactoryLogix, again uniquely differentiates Aegis software to deliver genuine Smart Factory benefits. Anyone involved in, or considering the start of any Smart Factory Industry 4.0 project, should visit our booth at productronica A3 340, and take the opportunity to see FactoryOptix in action, with the opportunity to participate in the FactoryOptix experience yourself, with our Augmented Reality assembly competition. Come and see if you can be the fastest to assemble our takeaway demo product that your kids will love, using FactoryOptix, and take away the daily prize!
About Aegis Software:
