RealWear Enables Ford to Speed Up Vehicle Repairs and Improve Their Customers’ Experience

Here’s What You Need to Know:

• Ford Motor Company recently released an article talking about its deployment of RealWear’s HMT-1 assisted reality heads-up displays throughout their dealership network in South Africa.

• According to the report, the hands-free, voice-controlled devices provide on-site automotive technicians instant access to Ford expert advice no matter where their dealership is located.

• RealWear assisted reality solutions have enabled automotive technicians in South Africa to perform complex and difficult repairs faster and more accurately than ever before.

• Ford is using the solution to cut the expense of sending experts to every far-flung location in their dealership network.

• The devices have also enabled Ford to boost customer satisfaction by reducing wait-times and ensuring vehicles are repaired correctly the first time.

• Ford will expand their use of RealWear’s headsets to more remote dealerships in South Africa – as well as to other locations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ford’s Announcement Says it Gained Business Benefits From the RealWear HMT-1 Hands-Free Deployment

According to the article, global innovation leader Ford Motor Company has gained a series of business benefits after introducing RealWear HMT-1 assisted reality devices in their South African dealerships. Ford had previously rolled out RealWear’s solution in parts of Australia and Europe. 

List of Benefits Provided

Ford is enjoying many benefits throughout their South African Dealerships. These include:

  • The ability for remote technicians to gain real-time access to Ford experts so they can complete difficult repairs faster, easier and more accurately than ever.
  • The ability to eliminate vehicle repair bottlenecks cause by the delays in on-site expertise.
  • The ability to significantly reduce the enormous expense of sending vehicle repair experts to far-flung remote locations.
  • The ability to boost customer satisfaction by repairing vehicles correctly the first time – and reducing customer vehicle downtime.

Ford Management, Technicians and Vehicle Repair Experts Delighted

Ford says its employees have been very happy with RealWear’s solution. 

According to Director of Ford Service Engineering Operations Pieter Verster, “We need to modernize where we want to go. Part of that is the rollout of RealWear to support our technicians in the dealership with difficult to repair cases.”

According to our partner Team Forward CEO, Steven Wright, “It’s a solution that integrates seamlessly into relevant systems and performs remote services in remote locations, as well as digitizing the relevant processes.”

“But even more important, when dealing with a challenging case, a technician can get remote assistance from anyone in the world. RealWear’s solution provides everything a tablet does – but it is now hands-free.”

“The remote video connection allows the remote technician and in-house expert to see the exact same thing so there is no dispute of confusion.” Added Wright, “This helps the two determine where to look, what the problem is and how to fix it. Smart wearable has really grown and really enabled us to do so much more, so much quicker so much more cost-effectively.”

Ford’s dealership technicians agree. According to Ford Repair Centre Technical Lead, Jason Pretorius, “It’s awesome technology. It makes the diagnosing so much easier. Everything is quicker and faster. We can communicate with the experts at Ford and they can do things like show us wiring diagrams. It makes everything so much more accessible and actually puts them here on premises with us.”

And Ford’s internal experts concur. According to Field Service Engineer, Justice Manzini, “It’s a brilliant device. It will minimize us going out to the dealerships and will make the diagnosis process quick so the customer will get their vehicle back as soon as possible.”

“We need to look at it from the customer perspective,” added Verster, “We want to fix it right the first time, increase customer satisfaction by doing it, as well as reducing vehicle downtime for the customer.”

To watch the full video detailing Ford’s experience with RealWear, simply click below:

Connected Worker Solutions for Many Industries 

Ford is only the latest global leader to discover the benefits of RealWear’s solutions. We offer industry specific, hands-free solutions for front line workers working in a variety of industries where you sell. These include:

  • Automotive
  • Manufacturing
  • Oil and gas
  • Healthcare
  • Energy and Utilities
  • Field Services

Every industry is different, but all frontline tasks can be made safer and more efficient with connected worker solutions. From the floor of fast paced auto shops to the dizzying heights of wind turbines, the RealWear HMT-1 headsets are designed to help workers stay productive and aware of the hazards that surround them. And more. To learn more about all the sectors we cover and read some of our case studies, click here.

How RealWear’s Solutions Can Help Your Firm 

RealWear’s rugged, easy-to-use devices were specifically created for the workforce of the future. Designed to operate flawlessly in remote, dirty, loud, complex, and sometimes hazardous environments, our products provide workers access to real-time information and expertise they need. The coming convergence of IoT, 5G and total digital transformation is rapidly making the need for our products grow from a “nicety” to an absolute necessity.

The Advantages of Assisted Reality

Unlike Augmented or Virtual Reality solutions, Assisted Reality is far safer for frontline workers in many cases.

Although it may not attract the splashy headlines, Assisted Reality gives your clients’ workers access to the right information right when then need it, allowing them to maintain full situational awareness. Unlike Augmented Reality, Assisted Reality is a reality first, digital second experience.

Assisted Reality enables workers to view a screen within immediate field of vision, hands free. Information is not overlaid with real-world view. For a detailed explanation of assisted reality – and the benefits it can offer – read our blog post.

A Host of Additional Benefits

Realwear headsets’ wide range of money-, time- and potentially life-saving benefits include:

  • Significant improvements in overall worker safety
  • Measurable increases in workplace productivity
  • Considerable reductions in expert travel expenses
  • The ability to attract and retain hard-to-find workers
  • Superior return on your overall investment

To learn more about how RealWear’s solutions can help your firm’s workforce thrive both today and into the future, click here for more information (landing page link).

About RealWear  

RealWear® is a knowledge transfer platform company providing in-situ information and in-the-field training with software and hardware to help people improve safety and increase productivity at work. The company’s flagship system, the HMT-1®, is the best ruggedized head-mounted, wearable, Android-class computer that frees a worker’s hands for dangerous jobs. With an ever-growing number of hands-free enterprise-ready software apps and integrations, enterprise customers gain instant knowledge for faster troubleshooting and communication and inspection with remote mentor, visual assist, document navigation, industrial IoT visualization and digital workflow solutions.   

Global leaders in energy, manufacturing and automotive industries trust the HMT-1 and HMT-1Z1 to empower and connect their global workforce. Companies operating global   businesses in diverse industries including Shell, Colgate-Palmolive, BMW and State Grid trust RealWear.  

For more information, visit www.realwear.com.  

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