ARZuKMU | Augmented Reality for New Collaboration in SME Factory Planning

New form of collaboration in factory planning

ARZuKMU intends a new form of collaboration in factory planning projects, which is cross-disciplinary and cross-company and independent of hierarchies. be cross-disciplinary and cross-company and independent of hierarchies. In order to achieve such a collaborative cooperation of all participants, an easily understandable and location-independent visualization of planning statuses is required. For this purpose, an AR system linked to factory planning tools and equipped with a multi-user interaction interface is used.

Methods for employee participation

The method for employee participation includes an optimal integration of production employees into factory planning decision processes by means of AR support. Therefore, key inhibition thresholds are taken into account and dealt with, e.g. a lack of motivation to participate and contribute knowledge, the users' limited prior experience in the area of factory planning and AR, and the employees' assumption of new tasks.

Development of a new AR-based factory planning approach.

We explore new approaches of collaborative factory planning compared to existing factory planning procedures. We investigate AR-linked planning software, i. e. if it can be used for a better visualization of planning statuses, for example in the production environment, and to what extent the integration of collaborators influences the planning procedure. In this context, the new roles arising in the planning process will be integrated into a new factory planning procedure and the gain of the additional know-how on the planning quality will be tested.

The participation of factory employees, e.g. from production, logistics or workshops, offers a high potential for increasing the quality of planning, since the know-how of the specialist personnel about their jobs and activities can be directly incorporated. At the same time, a significant increase in acceptance of rescheduling is to be expected, since the planning process can be co-designed. The ARZuKMU project is intended to form the basis for integrating production employees into factory planning for further projects and research activities with SMEs.