Mixed reality hits the factory floor
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I'm wearing mixed reality goggles, and a disembodied voice is telling me to check the wiring harnesses on the 2.0-liter engine in front of me, inside Ford's Dearborn engine plant in Michigan.
Why it matters: If any one of the electrical connections in the intricate network is wired incorrectly, the engine won't start.
- Quality audits like this are routine as carmakers try to squeeze out errors and inefficiencies that wind up costing time and money.
Yes, but: I'm a novice when it comes to inspecting engines.
- Wearing Microsoft's HoloLens 2 headset, at least I can follow step-by-step holographic instructions in my peripheral view.
How it works: My eyes follow a glowing indicator that shows me exactly where to look and what to do for each step in the process.
- Surprise! About three-quarters of the way through my tasks, I discover one of the connectors isn't properly attached.
- I fix the problem by plugging the connector into its socket and — voilà! — the engine now passes muster and is ready to be installed in a Ford Escape.
Driving the news: Ford is one of the first automakers to use mixed reality (MR) technology in such a way on the factory floor.
- Car designers routinely use virtual reality to simulate vehicle features during the engineering phase, while MR blends virtual content with the real world.
- Ford is using Microsoft's $3,500 MR headsets to train factory employees in a variety of tasks, from building engines and components to changing tools in computerized factory equipment.
Zoom in: About 25 Dearborn engine plant workers have been trained so far, with 100 more expected to complete the training by the end of the year.
- Trainees pace themselves, using instantaneous feedback from the virtual instructor to gain confidence, rather than feeling pressured by a real boss looking over their shoulder.
Between the lines: Ford has long struggled with quality issues, which have turned into a costly crisis, with the automaker forfeiting billions of dollars in profit due to soaring warranty claims and delayed launches.
- Ford leads the industry in recalls and spent $4.8 billion fixing its customers' cars in 2023, per Warranty Week magazine.
- CEO Jim Farley has acknowledged the problems, telling investors last February his big "regret" is that he didn't move faster to address the issues when he rose to the top job three years ago.
- Now he's ordered the company to hold newly redesigned models for up to six weeks to perform extra quality checks before shipping them to dealerships — a costly but prudent measure.
Farley tells Axios he's pleased with a recent quality rebound reflected in the latest J.D. Power customer survey of new car owners.
- "I'm very heartened by the progress ... but it is the first down payment of many that have to come."
My thought bubble: I'd never used MR goggles before, so it took some time to understand how the technology works.
- At first, the floating virtual instructions panel blocked my view of the real engine. Once I learned how to relocate the panel to my peripheral view, I felt more comfortable.
- I went through the prescribed tasks three times, and each time I got a little more confident and completed the work more quickly.
The bottom line: I can see how mixed reality can help workers learn new tasks efficiently, but there's likely no substitute for on-the-job training.
