THIS MONTH WE LOOK at one of the most exciting technologies being adopted in manufacturing , but one that has crept up upon many industries somewhat by the back door . The important word in Augmented Reality , or AR , is the second word . Industry is dealing here with the ‘ what is ?’ of design and production , not the ‘ what if ?’ though it undoubtedly answers the latter question in a lot of instances . Volkswagen is using it , Bosch is using it and many Fortune 500 companies have realized the benefits and are moving toward implementing augmented reality programs . Find out how AR is becoming a game changer in the manufacturing and industrial space .

Moving on , we look at some other more established disruptive innovations that are at once a challenge and an advantage to each and every manufacturer : the lessons they teach any late adopter is surely , look at what your kids are doing , because you will be following them quicker than you think !

Finally downtime is inevitable since plant has to maintained , so how do we keep it in control and plan for it ? We offer a checklist of ten approaches to keeping the lights on .

Enjoy the issue !

Associate Editor abigail . phillips @ wdmgroup . com

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