Companies are increasingly focused on the consumer in order to deliver services that are fast, reliable, secure, and accurate. AR has grown as a go-to solution for businesses wanting to improve their supply chains. AR may boost efficiency by making traditional processes quicker and more productive. The physical constraints created by Covid-19 will only hasten the use of AR.
According to MarketsandMarkets, the AR Technology market is expected to increase by $72.7 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 46.6% between 2019 and 2024. These forecasts highlight the importance of augmented reality across sectors.
Let us understand how Augmented Reality is going to become the future of the Supply Chain.
1. Optimization of the Warehouse
Augmented Reality is a valuable tool for effective warehouse management since it allows employees to accomplish jobs. Remote users can view what the user is seeing with AR smart glasses and gadgets, which could keep wasteful travel and downtime costs under control. Moreover, AR devices attach virtual models and instructions to any user’s field of view, allowing users to offer direct directions to the task at hand and receive explicit, visual feedback on how to perform the work. This guarantees that employees are less likely to make mistakes.
2. Transport Management
Augmented Reality has the potential to improve logistics operations efficiency. AR-enabled scanners and sensors assist logistics firms in scanning and documenting mistakes, damages, and product concerns for regulatory and compliance purposes. The potential of augmented reality may be used to improve container loading while also reducing the requirement for physical cargo lists and load instructions. It simplifies loading instructions on a monitor by providing step-by-step directions on how to load a container effectively.
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3. Repair and maintenance
In Supply Chain Management, Augmented Reality may be extremely useful in identifying equipment problems at warehouses. With their superior image recognition capabilities, AR smart glass devices may detect any machine malfunctions in the sorting and repackaging of goods. AR also provides timely system maintenance and aids in the prevention of catastrophic supply chain malfunctions or delays. Imagine a forklift malfunction in a warehouse: An employee may contact the right person, who may wear camera-enabled smart glasses to watch the breakdown and repair it in real-time.
4. AR Education and Training
A critical element of Augmented Reality technology is its capacity to quickly train new employees and even brush up on the abilities of seasoned employees to grasp a new task, which boosts worker productivity. AR smart glasses aid personnel in the speedy and exact identification of items through their many dynamic inspection capabilities. When an employee faces a problem while doing a task, the employee may use the smart glasses to locate a solution rather than leaving the workplace to collect a suitable guideline, checklist, or diagram.
5. After-Sales Service
AR Technology in Supply Chain Management provides improved efficiency in after sales services. It gives 3D imaging of the products and can trace the flaw; buyers can also use the internet or a database to correct the fault. This removes the need for organizations to have a large number of experienced employees to solve such difficulties, as well as reducing repair costs and time for both the consumer and the firm that offers repair services.
Conclusion
The internationalization of supply chain management, as well as the fundamental complexity that comes with it, has generated an urgent demand for technology like Augmented Reality. Companies are starting to recognize the value of leveraging AR in supply chain management, and while this technology is still in its early stages, there is no denying that AR has enormous potential to improve the efficiency of supply chain management.
