I) Is VR Training the solution against the desertion of industrial field?
Training in industries became more and more expensive due to:
- The “no work time” of employees who need to be trained.
- And the training program (with the trainer) companies have to pay.
That’s why industries turn to the VR (Virtual Reality) industrial training. What is that?
The accessibility and democratisation of VR tools/headsets allow companies to use it more often. Whether it is for their industrial training or for client’s presentations of one of their products. The VR industrial training is a consequence of VR and AR technologies evolution. The advantage of these technologies is that for training employees, you do not need, anymore, to put them in real conditions, which can sometimes be expensive.
II) Considered features:
Four characteristics are to be analysed for industrial training:
Training time: With VR Training, the training time is drastically reduced because industries only need to create a VR scenario for the training session.
Training cost: With VR training, the training cost stay reasonable because industries need to buy VR headsets and to build 3D scalable mock-up to simulate the industrial machinery. Few software’s are available to do it. Light & Shadows developed INTERACT, that allows companies to interact with their 3D model and create simulations. And fortify physic industrial models thanks to interactive models.
Trainee immersion: With VR headsets, the simulation created before can be visualize easily and better understand. It allows to improve the man-machines interface because the trainee evolves in a virtual industrial environment, take from reality. Thus, the trainee immersion is total.
Trainee motivation: With this new way to train employees, industries discovers a new form to attract employees and motivate them.
The industrial field attract new people thanks to these technologies because they permit to show the evolution of the industrial field. Too many people think it is a field which remained at the period of the industrial revolution. But it is NOT the case, it is a field in constant evolution, in France, in particular.
One of the most important features is the fact that VR/AR technologies allows a risks awareness and assessment. For an industry, to understand and know how to respect the rules to be safe at work is important. Thanks to those technologies, trainees knows how to behave in a warehouse or in another risky environment.
III) Already insert in some companies
Some VR/AR solutions of training are already insert in companies. Here are some examples of Light&Shadows training solutions currently used in companies.
Mimbus: In collaboration with Afpa and Mimbus, Light&Shadows developed a cutting table for training of employees. Thanks to this, employees and students can train them on an AR cutting table with the same feedbacks as if it was in real conditions. And they can be trained in safety conditions with this table too, by learning good gestures in the treatment of woods without the risks of a real situation. [ https://light-and-shadows.com/projet/wood-ed/ ]
Alstom: For Alstom, Light&Shadows developed a VR application and a VR paint gun for the training of painters and also for their recruitment. It allows a gain of material, of money and of productivity. When a company recruit qualified employees, it has a good impact of the productivity. The application allows Alstom to control parameters like paint thickness, speed and precision of the painter, etc. [ https://www.xrsuite.fr/xrpaint ]
CEA: For the CEA, Light&Shadows developed a replica of a control desk and a demonstrator implementing all the control desk elements to train students and employees about the use of this desk. It allows the trainee to use the same functionalities of a real control desk without consequences if he/she made a mistake.
IV) Conclusion
We think VR Training will help the industrial field in its growing evolution because students and teens in general have a huge interest in VR /AR technologies. This introduction of modernity in a sector known of being a bit late on the evolution can only be positive for industrial companies.