may2023 - 24

The total hardware investment for the 10 units
purchased was about $22,000, Scutaru noted. This
cost does not entirely account for the training and
delivery logistics of obtaining more HMT-1 headsets,
for which MHS Truck & Bus partnered with
Danila and his team at Seth Dynamics.
" The training was done more or less for workshop
managers in every location, one by one,
depending on their timetable because they are
pretty busy guys with lots to do, " Danila recalled.
" It was hard to get them all in one place. Ninety
percent of the training was actually done online. "
During the process, Scutaru found that the
company also had to work around some employees'
resistance to change.
" To be honest, the most important challenge
was to overcome the reluctance of the people
in using new technologies, because I know they
prefer traditional communication channels like
phone, WhatsApp, email, etc., " Scutaru explained.
The techs also had grown accustomed to their
Windows phones. " They were managing to do
their job well from their perspective, but not my
perspective, " Danila offered.
Danila found another challenge was establishing
the necessary infrastructure, as the live feed
wasn't reliable.
" There were some network connectivity problems,
which we solved in each location, " Danila
said. This was done through additional infrastructure
investments.
After the initial installation, both Scutaru and
Danila found that their technicians in each location
were consistently using the HMT-1 headwear
roughly 2 to 3 times per month.
" You are using the devices less and less because
you are more knowledgeable, " Danila explained.
" And you can solve things much more easily. You
24 Fleet Maintenance | May 2023
are only using it when something is changing,
when you have to deal with new things or you
need a higher level of support. "
But even with their devices experiencing peaks
and valleys of use, from Scutaru and Danila's
perspective, the continuous evolution of the repair
industry guarantees AR technology's viability in
MHS Truck & Bus' shops and, just as importantly,
on the road.
" We are planning to extend the application on
remote repairs in case of breakdowns, " Scutaru
noted. " When we have calls from our customers
and we need to allocate a technician to go there,
we might have very little information regarding
the vehicle, and sometimes we cannot allocate
a technician whose expertise and experience is
strongly correlated with the complexity of the
damage. That's why they should have the possibility
to use this device to solve the problem without
coming back to the workshop. "
Use Case 3: Penske Truck Leasing
Penske first began its foray into the world of AR
during the pandemic, which complicated the
company's training operations.
" During the pandemic, as a technical training
team with an audience of technicians, we learned
very quickly that using certain types of virtual
platforms for engaging with associates in a training
atmosphere was not really the best scenario for
learning, " said Holly Gerke, VP of maintenance,
technical training, and development, Penske
Truck Leasing.
As such, the company began to explore other
ways to deliver its training and began using
Design Interactive's XRMentor platform in
September of 2021.
» Design Interactive's mixed reality
improves training efficiency.
Design Interactive
" To be honest, the most
important challenge
was to overcome the
reluctance of the people
in using new technologies
because I know they prefer
traditional communication
channels like phone,
WhatsApp, email, etc. "
Marius Scutaru, head of customer
service management, MHS Truck & Bus
" The real expectation, once we learned more
about the technology, was that we were trying
to upskill our entry-level workforce at a much
quicker pace than we've ever been able to realize
before, " Gerke said.
However, Penske needed to ensure their infrastructure
was ready for the demands of AR before
they could reap the rewards.
" There was some lifting with technology as far
as our infrastructure, working with other teams in
our organization like security, IT, and working on
the network, so there are some things that we had
to really look at, " Gerke said. " When you insert a
piece of technology like this into a training infrastructure
that already consumes so much band
may2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of may2023
