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Writer's pictureSarah-Jayne Gratton

Minimizing human error and optimizing manufacturing workflow with TeamViewer Pilot

The Brexit-intensified shadow of the manufacturing industry’s workforce shortage, coupled with ever-increasing maintenance costs has cast a dark shadow over traditional manufacturing processes.

It’s been a contentious issue for the traditionalists; the ones who have felt that change would be too costly, too experimental and, quite frankly, too much like hard work!


TeamViewer are well aware of the resistance to change that still resonates throughout the antediluvian halls of those industries who fervently cling on to the past in the misguided hope that this ‘innovation’ thing is just a passing trend. What they fail to realize is that technology like that developed by TeamViewer is, in fact, their greatest ally, reducing costs and keeping them ahead of their game 24/7.


“Since Teamviewer is low cost to us we have not had to do justifications or ROI on it. Currently, it is saving us 10 manned service calls per month. A manned service visit is a minimum of $1000 generally unless it is right here next to us, equating to $10,000 per month.” -Ryan Lay, Manager, Control Support and Testing, HURCO

TeamViewer’s vision is centered on empowerment; the ability” to connect anything, anywhere, anytime.” By offering secure remote access, support, control, and collaboration capabilities for online endpoints of any kind, TeamViewer is ahead of the game in innovation. Harnessing the power of Augmented Reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to empower businesses of all sizes to “tap into their full digital potential.”


It’s a heady mix of technology and passion and one that is already making a difference.



I had a chance to put some questions to Bhaskar Mitra, Product Manager for Augmented Reality products at TeamViewer about what exactly Teamview Pilot offers the manufacturing industry in this time of change.


Q: What benefits to industry can TeamViewer Pilot provide in terms of early fault detection in the industrial manufacturing sector?


A: "Corrective maintenance can be scheduled to prevent breakdown so there's less machine downtime, which very important in terms of smart factories since a fault in one machine can stop the whole production line. Regular maintenance also ensures higher machine longevity and, as a result, a higher ROI.


" Additionally, resources can be allocated and planned in a better way. This is vital, keeping in mind the shortage of skilled workforce, increasing efficiency & operation speeds and thereby reducing the response time needed.


"Alongside this TeamViewer Pilot can reduce costs incurred by last-minute workface scheduling, overtime expenses, travelling costs, etc. there are also less warehousing and overhead costs due to a decrease in the overall spare-parts inventory.


Q: How does Augmented Reality (AR) technology accelerate collaboration in Industry 4.0?


A: "Globally there is a pressing issue of skills gap which affects industry verticals like manufacturing and it's a fact that within 2022, a majority of the Baby Boomer generation will retire.

"This present 2 issues: Transfer of knowledge and a shortage of skilled workers.


"With AR technology, experts from the baby boomer generation can explain complex topics and workflows to new employees in a hands-on manner, giving essential feedback in real-time while processes are being performed. This ensures faster knowledge transfer with a real-time feedback loop to improve productivity.



"To cater to the skilled workforce shortage problem, the experts can be used as a central pool of knowledge. Without travelling, they can support on-site workers, technicians anywhere in different processes like troubleshooting or maintenance or inspection using augmented reality technology. This decreases the overall resolution time needed for a fault and increases efficiency along with cost-savings on travelling."


Q: How much of a learning curve is there in the adoption of TeamViewer Pilot?


A: "None. It is an easy to use app which users can download use directly on their smartphones or tablets (with AR Core or AR Kit).


"No complex UI, training processes or expensive hardware is needed."


Q: If you had to pick one feature of TeamViewer as being the most beneficial to industry what would it be and why?


A: "In the industrial sector, human error accounts to more than 50% errors. Modern technology amplifies the impact of human fallibility, e.g. in automated production lines if one machine is down the whole line stops and this further affects other subsystems like packaging, shipping etc.



"With the 3D annotations feature, real-world objects can be highlighted in real-time and the annotations stay in place even if one moves the smartphone allowing the technician to refer to a previous performed step. This minimizes communication and human error and optimizes the workflow and increase overall productivity and ROI."


To find out more about TeamViewer Pilot sign up the forthcoming webinar: Industry 4.0 & Augmented Reality: Convergence of the Digital and Physical Worlds on 11 March 2020 at 11am CET.


It’s going to be an unmissable discussion and will feature Andreas Haizmann, Senior Product Manager for TeamViewer, who’ll be introducing their new Augmented Reality (AR) solution and Dr Christian Liedtke, Principal Consultant at KUKA, who advises customers on production optimization using Industry 4.0 and is also responsible for supporting the design and implementation of the strategy for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

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