BENGALURU: With the US and China embroiled in a trade war, president and CEO of Boston-based computer software and services company PTC, Jim Heppelmann said that lot of companies, especially American ones in China, will no longer continue manufacturing there and will look for other options. He said that India was an interesting destination.
Speaking to media persons in the city on Tuesday, Heppelmann said that inefficiencies in factories pose a hindrance to these investments. “It does not matter if the company is small or big. Its in your interest to have efficient factories because of competitors or losing profit margins,” he added.
Heading one of the leading companies in Augmented Reality (AR), he said that business analysts have forecasted an 80% growth in the AR sector while a 35% in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector. “With this forecast, one can see AR overtake IoT in growth,” he said. He pointed out the industries that have embraced AR.
“For instance, AR has become big in the sales and marketing sector,” he said. “The sector is undergoing a big change by using holograms,” he added.
As for customer relations, he said that in the past, most companies trying to sell products would have a hotline number for customers, which means the customer has to be the sensor for the products sold. However, with AR in the picture, he said, the product can tell you if there is a problem with the customer. “By monitoring the product, you can check if it is used or not, or if it has any problems. The product is now used as a sensor to monitor relationships with the customer,” he said.
On the production side, he said, “Studies show that frontline workers can be 30-50% more efficient with the introduction of AR. When they can see the instructions projected in front of them using AR glasses instead of reading a PDF file, they produce 60-90% less mistakes,” he said, which would deter automation.
“The best way to protect workers is to make them more productive so they compare more favourably to robots. The problem now is finding candidates for the job you have. However AR can train them in the moment,” he added.