Howden's AR: Scaling Expertise in Manufacturing

Howden, a global engineering business specializing in air and gas handling solutions, faced challenges in scaling product expertise to internal teams. They needed a solution to conduct effective training and knowledge transfer remotely, as their experts often had to travel globally to support colleagues and customers.

Recognizing the need for improvement, Howden partnered with PTC to implement augmented reality (AR) training and sales initiatives. They chose Vuforia Studio, an AR authoring and publishing solution, to provide immersive 3D virtual product demonstrations from remote locations. This allowed them to scale expertise efficiently and provide their workforce with the knowledge needed to succeed. For example, Howden's turbo blowers, designed and manufactured in Europe, are serviced and sold in many countries. To ensure understanding among service, manufacturing, and sales teams, they needed an effective training method. Physical units often had to be taken offline for training, resulting in costly downtime.

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Starting with their turbo blower product unit in Europe, Howden designed a pilot program for a standardized augmented training process. This involved creating immersive visual learning experiences with Vuforia Studio, educating regional sales teams and other internal teams about complex product features. The AR experience made information easier to understand and digest compared to traditional presentation formats.

Furthermore, the same technology empowered Howden's sales teams to give detailed product demonstrations to customers remotely. Sales teams used virtual 3D product demonstrations to show customers the size, scale, and functionality of compressors, enhancing the sales process.

Overall, Vuforia Studio enabled Howden to establish an efficient and effective process for training and sales, improving workforce efficiency and scaling expertise across the business. They have already begun expanding their training to more product lines and will continue to use AR as an essential tool for sales teams, even after the disruptions caused by COVID-19 are gone.