Augmented reality brings our tech support experts to customers’ packaging lines

Augmented reality: solving real problems virtually with Amcor Eyes

First piloted in early 2019, Amcor Eyes is a smart phone and tablet-based application that enables our engineers to directly interact with customers through a video transmission feed. But this is more than just FaceTime or Zoom – when the Amcor Eyes call is connected, our field technical services engineers see exactly what the customer is seeing. From there, there are lots of different tools that our engineers can use to help with new material trials, machine set-up or troubleshooting.

For example, the customer simply points their phone or mobile device’s camera at the production line issue and using augmented reality, our experts can directly show the customer how to fix it. They will see the engineer’s hands moving on the screen and pointing in front of them – making it very easy to give guidance. With gestures, drawing-on-screen, or other tools (a virtual screwdriver, for example) our engineers can show them exactly what to do, step-by-step. There is no chance of a ‘lost in translation’ moment. It’s like standing by our customer’s side.

A step-by-step guide to using Amcor Eyes:

• No app needed! Our Amcor team will send you a direct link to join the call via web browser, meaning you don’t need to install anything or sign-up
• When the call is connected, the Amcor team will see exactly what you are seeing and get a better understanding of the problem. Of course you can also switch who is guiding!
• The platform uses a number of tools to help our teams guide you on the call to a resolution. For example, using virtual reality, our Amcor engineers can point at specific areas on a machine or material, pause the video and draw or use their hands to provide intuitive instructions.

“Thanks for this Amcor Eyes demonstration, very nice technology. The image’s quality was excellent.” – Amcor customer

For our customers, Amcor Eyes has enabled them to get the help they need quickly and more efficiently. One customer said they were “amazed” by the service. John Wallace, one of Amcor’s Field Technical Services Engineers says, “Amcor Eyes overcomes the challenges of delivering a quick response when long distance and complicated travel are involved. We can be there with Amcor Eyes almost instantly.”

“Most of my main customers are based in Africa, so getting to the customer’s site can be long,” says Ivan Munoz, another Amcor Field Technical Services Engineer. “Thanks to Amcor Eyes we were able to set up a virtual visit with very short notice to support a customer in Kenya with machine set-up for a new product we were delivering to them. The quality of image and sound were awesome.”

Plus, the solution enables our customers to speak to multiple engineers at once, with different areas of expertise, as Ivan notes: “Thanks to Amcor Eyes, we were able to bring together five Amcor engineers on one call to support a customer test. Normally, it is very rare to have so many Amcor people visiting the same customer site.”

The Amcor team first started using the augmented reality technology in 2019. “Amcor Eyes has allowed us to quickly react to the COVID-19 situation, so that we can continue to support and collaborate with our customers despite travel restrictions and safety protocol around on-site visitors,” says Jean Issa, Amcor Field Technical Services Engineer. “Even when normal travel and on-site visits return, many customers can save time and money by using Amcor Eyes to get live interaction with our engineers. It can be very useful particularly with new material trials. It happened to me that after I left a customer in India, the next day they faced the same issue once again...With Amcor Eyes this is not a problem since we are able to bring our expertise there any time they need it.”

To find out more about working with Amcor and the post-sales support we offer, get in touch with our team of packaging experts. Read more about our technical field services here.