Heineken Brewery in St. Petersburg and Volga in Nizhny Novgorod have launched the Remote Expert project in test mode. With the help of multifunctional “smart glasses” with augmented reality technology, the company's specialists plan to reduce the time spent on repairing complex equipment by 25%. Also, thanks to digital technology, the company provides remote interaction with narrow specialists from different cities and countries, which is especially important for operational and safe work in a pandemic.
The pilot project "Remote Expert" was launched by HEINEKEN to solve several problems at once: it is important for the company to ensure the availability of narrow specialists for operational work with equipment and technological processes at factories, as well as to reduce the time and costs for eliminating technical faults with the involvement of experts from other locations. Heineken Brewery in St. Petersburg and Volga in Nizhny Novgorod were the first among HEINEKEN's Russian companies to join the International Remote Expert project, which is being implemented in 14 HEINEKEN divisions around the world. More than 150 specialists at 25 breweries use smart glasses at the same time. Thus, the company increases the digitalization of enterprises, ensures the exchange of experience between employees and reduces the risks for staff associated with travel in the context of the pandemic.
With the help of the new technology, the specialists of Heineken Brewery and the Volga plant can demonstrate in great detail to colleagues in other cities and countries how they perform important operations in production, as well as exchange experiences and opinions during group audio or video calls ... "Smart glasses" allow you to free the hands of specialists, you no longer need to hold a camera, smartphone or laptop to demonstrate the breakdown to colleagues. In other words, experts on the other side of the world can see the equipment with their own eyes and thus "control" the actions of a specialist who is physically located next to the equipment. They don't even need an extra pair of glasses - any device with which they can access the Internet is enough.
Smart glasses augmented reality technology solves a wide range of production issues: it provides high-quality communication between technicians, allows glasses screen drawings and text messages, draw hints, record the process of work on video and save it on the server. HEINEKEN Russia is planning to expand the use of the digital tool based on the experience of international colleagues. For example, in Mexico, such glasses are used to diagnose equipment malfunctions in laboratories, and in the Netherlands, technical assessments and audits of glass suppliers. The need to use a new device is only growing. In the future, it is planned to expand the functionality of the glasses and introduce them to other production facilities of the company.
