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How do you show a machine that fills a room?

Industrial products are big, heavy and complicated, and the parts that matter are usually inside. We work with you to put them on a desk, in a browser or in a headset, opened up and working, wherever your buyers and your team are.

The idea Take our biggest machine to every trade show without the lorry

An alternator standing on a printed card on a wooden desk, its casing turned see-through in augmented reality so the parts inside show
Cummins: an alternator on a desk, its casing made see-through so you can see what is inside.

Scale it up

Too big for the stand

Industrial machines rarely fit the places you need to show them. Start with this injection moulding machine as a model on the counter, take it to full size beside a visitor, then take it apart.

1:1 About 5 m long. Wider than the 3 m stand. An example machine drawn for this page, not a client’s: an injection moulding machine beside a visitor 1.8 metres tall.

What it is made of

  1. Hopper Feeds plastic pellets into the barrel.
  2. Injection unit Melts the plastic and pushes it into the mould.
  3. Mould Gives each part its shape. It changes with the product.
  4. Clamping unit Holds the mould shut while the plastic cools.
  5. Control panel Where the operator sets and watches each cycle.
  6. Machine base The frame, with the drive and hydraulics inside.

For an idea like this, the story might be a printed card on the counter that grows into the full machine in the aisle, opens up when a buyer asks and shows your sales team which parts people looked at.

An injection moulding machine in augmented reality, standing on a printed card on a wooden desk, with yellow information points on its parts and a panel describing the injection unit
Sumitomo Demag: tap a point on the machine to read about that part.

Sumitomo Demag

A machine that fits in a pocket

Sumitomo Demag builds automated manufacturing equipment: machines too large, and too much in demand, to move. That made them hard to show to customers, or to explain.

Together, we built a phone app that puts a machine on any table. People turn it in 3D, look inside and tap points on each part for detail, so a buyer can check it suits them before a large investment.

Read the Sumitomo Demag story

Product demonstrations

Open it up, on the product itself

Sealed Air: the TASKI Swingobot 2000 floor care machine in augmented reality, with points to tap for each feature.
  1. On the real thing

    Point a phone at the product itself, and animations, labels and instructions appear on the right parts of it.

  2. On a printed card

    A printed image on a leaflet, a stand or a desk brings up a 3D product that is not physically there.

Either way, people can see and handle the product and its instructions in 3D, which comes close to being shown in person. The same app then serves training and troubleshooting as well as sales. Read the TASKI story

With Cummins and their creative partners Artisan, we used augmented reality for a product launch, press, customer support and a long-term sales campaign: compare products, explore each section, read about the components and watch demonstrations. Read the Cummins story

Processes and people

From a new process to a new apprentice

A wooden model cut away to show layers of ground, with pipes and a glass platform on top, beside a tablet showing the same model in 3D with blue fluid moving through it

Process simulation · BP

A process before it is built

Some processes are too large, or too new, to show. With Designworks, we built an app for BP that shows three new processes in augmented and virtual reality, triggered by custom-made models that went on a global tour of events and exhibitions.

Read the BP story
A Range Rover in augmented reality with its bonnet made see-through and the engine highlighted in green, beside a menu of engine options

Recruitment · Jaguar Land Rover

A career you can hold

Jaguar Land Rover wanted more young people to apply for technician apprenticeships. Together, we made an augmented reality app that worked with their mailers and event leaflets: an X-ray view under the bonnet, a car to customise down to the number plate, and a drive mode that bumps into the mugs on your desk.

Read the Jaguar Land Rover story

In the browser

A whole range, with no app to install

When a range is too wide for any showroom, a web page can hold it. WebXR runs 3D in an ordinary browser, on a laptop or a phone, with nothing to download.

For Centrica Business Solutions we built a site people explore in 3D. Solar panels, heat pumps, combined heat and power and electric vehicle chargers are labelled where they would be fitted, and analytics show Centrica which of them prospective clients look at, so the conversation that follows starts in the right place.

Read the Centrica story, or try the showcases.

In one app

What one app can carry

One app, made with you, can hold any of this. You choose together what your audience needs.

Industrial app Specification

Products
A whole range, with customisation and side-by-side comparison.
Views
Components, cutaways and X-ray views inside the casing.
In use
Animated in-use sequences, training steps and troubleshooting.
Made from
Your production drawings or CAD files, with 360 film where filming suits better.
Released on
The public app stores, or your enterprise system for internal use.
Records
How the app is used, in a secure online database, if you need it.

For training where the real place matters, see the NCC’s virtual reality training, filmed on site in 360.

How we work

From production drawings to a model on the stand

  1. Start from your drawings

    You share production drawings or CAD files, and we agree with you who it is for: buyers, engineers or apprentices.

  2. Decide what opens

    Together we choose which parts open, move and explain themselves.

  3. Build it light enough to carry

    We make a model that runs smoothly on a phone, a tablet or in a browser, and test it with your team.

  4. Release it where it belongs

    On the app stores, your enterprise system or your website, with a record of use if you want one.

What we use

The mediums that fit

Most industrial projects start with an accurate 3D model, then reach people through augmented reality, the browser or a headset.

Questions

Good to know

  • Do you need our CAD files?

    They help. Most industrial models start from production drawings or CAD files, which keeps every part accurate. Drawings and photographs work too.

  • Can the app stay inside our organisation?

    Yes. Many industrial apps are for internal use only, so we can release yours on your enterprise system instead of the public app stores.

  • Does it need a headset?

    No. Most of the projects on this page run on a phone or a tablet, and WebXR runs in an ordinary web browser. Headsets suit training and exhibitions, where people stand inside a process.

  • Can we see how people use it?

    Yes, if you need to. The app can record what people do in a secure online database, so your sales and training teams see which products and parts drew attention.

Your idea

Talk it through with us

Tell us what you are trying to explain, launch or change in your sector. We will work out with you which medium suits it.

Your turn

What’s your idea?

Tell us the idea you are trying to explain, launch or change, and together we will find the right way to tell it.