Address skills gaps, enhance the training experience, and improve job satisfaction with forward-thinking solutions.
The short version: An aging, retiring, and shifting manufacturing workforce takes expert knowledge with it when people leave. Augmented reality (AR) captures that expertise and delivers it as interactive, in-context guidance—speeding time to proficiency, reducing errors, and supporting consistent quality. For regulated life sciences manufacturers, the payoff is real only when AR systems are deployed and maintained under a disciplined validation and compliance approach.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes computer-generated content over real-world views to create an interactive experience. The content is seen using glasses, smartphones, or tablets.
It has a variety of everyday uses in retail, entertainment, gaming, and navigation, just to name a few. This blog, however, will focus on how AR is used in manufacturing in the life sciences industry.
AR provides information to users by displaying visual elements and delivering sensory information to the user. In the case of manufacturing, it shows employees how to complete tasks in a consistent manner, helps technicians perform maintenance and cleaning activities, and enables someone off site to troubleshoot issues with onsite employees.
It also provides direct links to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and work instructions (WIs) as written documentation or as video files for real-time reference. Pre-loaded examples of properly completed tasks and scenarios alert employees to missed steps and critical errors.
Why Manufacturers are Turning to AR
When there’s a skills gap in your workforce, it takes forward-thinking solutions to close it. Traditional training methods—like having a new hire shadow an experienced employee—are inefficient and may not yield the training results you expect. If you’re backfilling manufacturing roles because your experienced workers retired or accepted a job elsewhere, those employees took their knowledge with them when they left.
AR is a solution that assimilates expert knowledge and helps ensure that a job is done right. New employees are trained using proven and reliable methods and current employees deliver consistent final products. As processes are updated and training requirements evolve, AR provides real-world context, visual instructions, interactive content, and quality checks at the end of a process or task.
AR turns the knowledge that used to walk out the door with a retiring expert into reusable, in-context guidance every operator can follow.
Advantages and benefits of augmented reality are that it:
- Speeds the time to proficiency for new hires
- Supports assembly and quality inspections
- Improves efficiency, accuracy, and safety
- Enables remote assistance
The ROI of Augmented Reality
Significant improvements in competency, productivity, and agility await organizations that implement AR-based training and ongoing production support.
But AR technology consists of sensors, input devices, processors, and other components. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to implement. How do companies justify it? Here are some examples of return on investment (ROI):
- Analyze data. Determine how long it takes to complete steps in a process. Analyze the data from your AR technology to improve processes.
- Transform service. Improve first-time fix rates and reduce the number of service calls (truck rolls). This also helps to boost customer satisfaction.
- Decrease downtime. Improve your production process and manufacturing efficiency. Your employees are able to avoid mistakes when using AR.
- Increase quality. Introducing quality checks through AR enables more accurate production and fewer quality failures upon inspection.
Cost savings are realized through a reduction in service and training expenses, material defects, and workplace accidents. Further examples of ROI for AR include:
- Retaining skilled workers by providing up-to-date, interactive training
- Reducing hiring costs by ensuring that new hires are trained quickly and properly
- Minimizing mistakes that lead to longer cycle times, maintenance costs, and downtime
- Improving productivity, safety, and job satisfaction
Compliance is part of the ROI math. Because AR systems guide GxP activities and surface SOPs and work instructions, the data they capture and the content they display are subject to regulatory expectations. The trustworthiness of those electronic records is governed by 21 CFR Part 11, and the integrity of the underlying data follows the same principles USDM applies to data integrity in life sciences. Treating AR as a validated, compliant system—not just a productivity tool—protects the savings it creates.
How Predictive Maintenance Uses Real-Time Data from AR
The AR system accesses a central repository—a single source of truth—for manufacturing data using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Even when technicians are in the field, they have accurate, up-to-date information.
Predictive maintenance uses the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to act on data, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. IIoT connects machines, employees, and processes to facilitate transformational business decisions. For example, sensor data observes a machine’s performance, status, and real-time health. Alerts and notifications make operators aware of maintenance issues that could result in downtime. With information like this, technicians are able to identify and resolve issues before they lead to equipment failure.
A Framework for Deploying AR in Regulated Manufacturing
1. Capture expertise
Document how your most experienced workers complete tasks, then translate that into interactive AR work instructions, visual checks, and reference SOPs.
2. Validate the system
Apply a risk-based computer software assurance (CSA) approach so testing effort matches risk, and keep the system in a validated state through validation lifecycle management as content and software change.
3. Govern the data and records
Ensure the records AR generates meet electronic record and signature expectations and uphold data integrity, so audit readiness is built in rather than bolted on.
4. Sustain compliance after every release
Use ongoing assurance to manage updates, regression testing, and validation evidence so the system stays compliant as vendors push new features.
Get the Right AR Technology for Your Business Needs
As a trusted partner of USDM Life Sciences, PTC offers Vuforia, an augmented reality solution used to create immersive content for frontline workers. Further, Vuforia Expert Capture uses the knowledge of experts and three-dimensional computer-aided design (3D CAD) to deliver interactive work instructions. It also automates visual inspections using AI to guide workers with AR overlays of a correctly built product. The system analyzes the end result and identifies incorrect configurations, which helps to shorten the time to completion with zero defects.
Using the computer software assurance (CSA) approach, USDM helps PTC create software and push updates. USDM Cloud Assurance gives PTC customers the tools they need for full-suite risk-based regression testing and validation after each release. Customers also get validation information to support audits, including the initial validation package and results from automated testing.
FAQ: Augmented Reality for Life Sciences Manufacturing
What is augmented reality in manufacturing?
Augmented reality superimposes computer-generated content—such as visual instructions, SOP links, and quality checks—over real-world views through glasses, smartphones, or tablets. In manufacturing, it shows employees how to complete tasks consistently, supports maintenance and cleaning, and lets off-site experts troubleshoot issues with onsite workers.
How does AR help with workforce and skills gaps?
AR assimilates expert knowledge and delivers it as interactive guidance, so new hires reach proficiency faster and current employees produce consistent results. When experienced workers retire or leave, AR helps preserve the know-how they would otherwise take with them.
What is the ROI of AR for manufacturers?
Organizations realize value by analyzing process data, improving first-time fix rates and service, decreasing downtime, and increasing quality. Cost savings come from reduced service and training expenses, fewer material defects and accidents, lower hiring costs, and improved productivity, safety, and job satisfaction.
How does AR support predictive maintenance?
AR connects to a central single source of truth and works alongside the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Sensor data reveals a machine’s performance and health, while alerts notify operators of issues so technicians can resolve problems before they cause equipment failure.
How do you keep an AR system compliant in a GxP environment?
Because AR guides regulated activities and generates electronic records, it should be validated using a risk-based CSA approach, governed for data integrity and 21 CFR Part 11 expectations, and kept in a validated state through lifecycle management and ongoing assurance after each release.
Ready to put AR to work—without compromising compliance? USDM helps life sciences manufacturers plan for, implement, validate, and sustain augmented reality so you capture workforce knowledge and protect your records at the same time. Contact USDM to map AR to your manufacturing and quality goals.
To learn how your organization can plan for, implement, and reap the benefits of augmented reality, contact USDM today.
Contributing subject matter expert: David Blewitt, Vice President of Cloud Compliance