GE is using gaming technology and VR to make factories work better

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GE engineers in Rugby have been using VR to optimise and even design factories, a task typically done with computers in two dimensions. As good as that approach is, it can be difficult to anticipate problems that crop up once the building has been built and is in use. But by then, it’s too late to fix the design without expensive retrofitting.

The GE team says VR, in combination with data coming from working factories, will help them avoid problems before they occur. Real-world data allows the designers to see how workers move and where they gather in an existing plant and where production tends to back up. Design tweaks and more feedback then enable the team to improve new factory layouts. “We’ve been looking for ways to optimise our factories and VR seemed to us like a good idea,” said Neha Prajapat, an engineering tool specialist who is leading the project. Her team began working on VR as part of an Innovate UK funded project in 2014. They wanted to know if they could convert a standard 2D factory model into a 3D scale model and then tweak it for use in VR headsets or 3D projection. Prajapat plays video games, and so using the Microsoft Kinect gaming console to monitor movement in GE factories was obvious first step for her. The console can record objects’ positions and allows players to turn themselves into avatars inside games and perform tasks. The team decided to test the approach at a UK-based maintenance facility. They scouted 30 different locations at the plant and laser scanned them. “You could see people walking around the factory, where they were going, how long they were spending on operations, if people were crowding around one area,” Prajapat explained. Prajapat says GE factory designers will soon be able to use information from the pilot to create plans for brand-new plants that are as people-friendly and flexible as possible. Several projects already are underway using the technology for different GE businesses, including GE Grid Solutions, GE Aviation, and GE Oil and Gas.

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