Manufacturers increasingly rely on mobile and stationary technologies to obtain worker- and machine- performance data that optimizes plant productivity
With wearable devices increasingly being used on the assembly line, it’s definitely time to update the old expression that ‘What you wear says a lot about you.’ A more appropriate thing for manufacturers to now say about their assembly line workers is, ‘What you wear tells us a lot about your productivity.’ The wearable devices that provide this crucial data include smartwatches, wristbands, gloves and head-mounted Google Glass.
For the last several years, workers at AGCO Corp. have used Google Glass and the Glass Enterprise Edition to follow instructions so their hands are free to assemble tractors and crop applicators. This approach has led to a 25 percent reduction in production time, fewer defects and the ability to train staff 300 percent faster, notes Peggy Gulick, director of business process improvement at AGCO.