At this year’s Hannover Messe, SAP showcased its suite of tools to connect supply chains and workforces using augmented reality (AR).

The tools have a range of use cases across the industrial supply chain – from manual order picking, inventory and sorting to quality control, inspection and maintenance services. Deployments of the AR tools are already seen in Coca Cola factories and on Formula 1 race tracks.

“Using our system, you can get an expert from anywhere in the world to help with a problem using the industrial metaverse,” said Darren Lesniak, SAP’s vice president of strategic alliances. “The system helps to speed up processes, reduce the amount of errors, improve flexibility and lower training time for staff.”

One example showcased was SAP’s collaboration with TeamViewer, a remote connectivity developer. 

Under the partnership, SAP’s technology is used to power TeamViewer’s Frontline augmented reality app, where frontline workers are connected to critical data using wearables such as smart glasses or mobile phones. The hands-free capabilities also help to improve productivity, displaying the desired tasks and digital assistive tools to employees as they work.

All performed tasks are then logged in SAP to improve supply chain transparency.

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“Frontline workers can collaborate with remote experts for fast, precise troubleshooting and knowledge sharing through augmented reality-based see-what-I-see video remote assistance,” TeamViewer said.

Use cases already include Coca Cola factory floors, as well as Mercedes Formula 1 engineers. For the former, smart glasses are given to employees to digitize and log day-to-day tasks, and connect wearers to help if needed. For the latter, giving engineers the AR-enabled smart glasses connected them to remote assistance at all times, and more rapidly run tests and identify problems.