Situation

Ypsomed is the leading developer and manufacturer of pens, auto-injectors and pump systems for administration of liquid medication. Ypsomed was the first industry partner of Swisscom to test the new 5G mobile communications generation in ongoing production.
As part of the pilot project, Ypsomed has digitalised its production processes for injection pens across the entire value chain.
Open Web Technology was approached to support Ypsomed to reach the targeted digitisation with the help of Augmented Reality (AR).

Approach

Open Web Technology's team defined a three-step approach to bring Augmented Reality into reality:

1. Blueprint

By means of workshops, our team was able to delimit the scope of the project, translate the need into functionalities and requirements for two representative use cases:

  • Quality assurance: Improve the efficiency of quality assurance tests conducted by Ypsomed employees
  • Augmented support: simplified contact between technician and expert through interactive video support

2. Development and technology

Open Web Technology used its agile methodology to design and develop a custom Augmented Reality (AR) application running on Microsoft Hololens. With the following capabilities, the Hololens application supports the employee in charge of testing a product:

  • Ergonomic layout: While the employee needs his hands to perform manual checks on the product, the application can be used hand-free. The minimalistic look and feel of this application does not impact the employee visibility.
  • Product recognition: No need to find for product documentation, the product is automatically scanned and the related quality check scenario is displayed.
  • Step by step tracking: The application displays the steps of the test scenario through a simple validation process with colour indicators. The result of each step is stored to keep a quality traceability.
  • Reporting: Using the front camera of the HoloLens, the employee can document any step of the scenario by taking picture of defected parts of the product. The result of the quality check is sent directly to SAP including pictures taken.

In addition to this HoloLens app, we also evaluated Microsoft Skype as an “out of the box” support tool, using the following AR functionalities:

  • Share and place technical documentation in the production environment
  • Draw and place symbols in the real environment

3. On site testing

As our HoloLens application is part of the digitalisation project, we installed our application in the production environment to ensure the compatibility with the other interfaces such as SAP and the 5G network.

This custom development has sorely simplified and accelerated the quality assurance process: The time to gather information and write quality check reports is reduced, thanks to this connected HoloLens app which captures pictures and send information to the ERP. The quality of the information is improved, as the application store the necessary traceability information. It would also allow in a further way to perform statistics on collected data to improve the quality in the production line.

If you are interested by the subject, you can read other Augmented Reality client case on our dedicated page!

Learn more about this project

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