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AGCO Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, announced today that it is increasing the efficiency, quality and safety of its manufacturing programs by doubling the number of Glass, an assisted reality, wearable headset device being used in its Jackson, Minnesota, factory, and will begin using Glass at six additional factories. The Jackson facility manufactures complex, custom configured Challenger and Massey Ferguson agricultural machines.
Peggy Gulick, AGCO’s Director of Business Process Improvement, said, "We have been using Glass with a solution called Proceedix for the past two years. We found the greatest value from using Glass has been in the assembly and quality areas, through the easy and quick hands-free access to the instructions and checklists necessary to assemble our individually designed tractors. We have discovered that training with smart glasses is a grand slam. New product launches, multi-operation and new hire training are easily administered and audited for success. We have seen a significant increase in productivity, and our factory employees have reported being much happier doing their jobs."
AGCO, one of the pioneering companies to use Glass in its factory, was recently announced as a Glass Partner by the Glass team at Alphabet’s X. With the use of Glass, AGCO has seen over a 30 percent reduction in inspection times, a 25 percent reduction in production time for low volume, high complexity assemblies and the ability to train staff 300% faster. AGCO no longer requires the use of $3,000 rugged tablets to inspect customized tractors, and employees’ hands have been freed up. Glass has enabled workers to scan a machine’s serial number to instantly bring up a manual, photo, or video they may need to build the tractor. Factory workers are also able to use voice commands to take notes and leave them for the next shift worker, allowing for a more seamless transfer and increased productivity. Staff is trained faster on cross functional operations using Glass, reducing the average learning curve time from 10 days to three.
“AGCO was an early adopter of Glass in the workplace and their business results highlight how useful it can be for manufacturing workers to have all the information they need to get the job done right in their line of sight,” Jay Kothari, Project Lead, Glass.
Gulick continued, “Knowing that smart glasses are a lean tool, and not an industry requirement or cool factor, we have reported a 30 percent reduction in processing times and a 50 percent reduction in new hire and cross functional employee training time. Glass was introduced as a solution to make employees’ jobs easier and safer while driving higher quality to our product and our processes. In the end, we have accomplished both.”
Source : AGCO