In an increasingly competitive marketplace, industrial enterprises are under pressure to keep up with their peers—but getting ahead is difficult with a growing skills gap exacerbated by retiring experts and outdated training methods. At the same time, organizations need to keep their workforce safe on the job—but insufficient training methods could leave employees unprepared to work with highly complex products and processes, increasing the likelihood of costly safety risks.
Augmented reality (AR) overlays digital content on physical environments, empowering employees at any level of experience with the information they need via smartphone, tablet, AR device, or connected headset. When industrial enterprises leverage AR for skills development training, they optimize knowledge retention, improve efficiency, and reduce errors:
PTC customers are already addressing their business challenges with AR-based skills development training. In doing so, they’re achieving results that can help shrink the skills gap and improve safety across their workforce, including up to 50% faster training time, up to 48% fewer safety incidents, and up to 75% less time on site. With outcomes like these, the values of AR-based training are clear—but to fully realize improved skills and safety, industrial leaders must first consider their workforce’s specific challenges and needs. In the case of one organization, a people-focused approach to AR implementation leads to more relevant and effective training experiences.
Intertape Polymer Group (IPG), a leading manufacturer of protective packaging, recognized a skills gap due to insufficient training across its maintenance and operations workforce. When the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing skills gap and labor shortage issues, IPG experienced a clear need to capture and scale knowledge from its experts. While the company initially considered filming training content on its own, Ronn Englehart, Digital CI Program Manager, emphasized the long-term, strategic value of AR for future data visibility and consumption.
With a people-focused approach to digital transformation, IPG ensured its employees understood the ways AR would address their key on-the-job challenges and attract new talent in a tight labor market. Specifically, Vuforia Expert Capture—PTC’s AR solution for capturing and scaling expert knowledge—would play a central role in IPG’s strategy. Today, the manufacturer is working to ensure its digital content is helpful, engaging, and effective for brand new and seasoned employees using it for skills development training. And going forward, IPG is working with PTC to implement training initiatives within its smart connected environment.
In the December 8 webinar, IPG’s Ronn Englehart, Digital CI Program Manager, joined PTC’s Sarah Reynolds, VP AR & IoT Marketing, to discuss IPG’s journey addressing the skills gap and improving safety with AR.
AR is a critical component of effective and engaging training experiences that scale expert knowledge, accelerate employee understanding, and improve workforce safety. In the on-demand webinar replay, you’ll learn how IPG leverages AR to transform its training initiatives, empower its employees, realize valuable outcomes, and plan for future transformation. Watch the replay to get IPG’s full story, gain critical insights into its AR strategy, and see the real-world results of AR-based skills development training.
Claire is a Content Marketing Manager on PTC's Commercial Marketing team. She creates content in support of PTC products and solutions.