February 2, 2025 • 14 mins
MBDA's Salvatore Errico, Industrial Digital Engineer, and Greg White, Design Tools Capability Lead, discuss AR/XR use cases in defense manufacturing and training. They examine the most important and impactful outcomes of XR deployment, including:
- Alignment with operational goals
- Workflow transformation
- Measurable benefits, such as efficiency and safety improvements
- The biggest challenges in implementing XR solutions
Please visit thearea.org.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello, I'm Karen Quatromoni,
Director of Public Relationsfor Object Management Group.
Welcome to our ObjectManagement Group podcast series.
At OMG,
we're known for driving industrystandards and building tech communities.
Today we're here with the AugmentedReality for the Enterprise Alliance
(00:24):
- AREA.
It is the only global nonprofitmember-based organization dedicated to
widespread adoption ofinteroperable AR enabled enterprise
systems.
We're here today withSalvatore Errico and Greg
White from MBDA systems. Mark Sage,
(00:45):
the executive director of the AREA,
will lead today's session. Thank you.
Hey, hello everybody andwelcome to our latest podcast.
Our podcast are really here to helpinform the ecosystem about what's
happening in the XR space andI'm really excited to have
(01:06):
a couple of experts in this field.
I've been lucky enough to beworking and MBDA who would
introduced themselves to minutehave been area members for a while.
So we have Salvatore and Greg from MBDA.
So Salvatore,
maybe you could start and just introduceyourself and your role at MBDA and then
(01:27):
we'll hand over to Greg.
Hi, I am Salvatore Errico,
industrial engineer from MBDA and I work
mostly on AR and XR technologies,
mostly on AR in the lastperiod and I'm involved also
in our research and technologygroup as a consultant.
(01:51):
Yep, perfect. So thanks Mark.
I'm Greg White from MBDA in the UK.
I'm in the mechanical engineering teamand looking after all of their innovation
to try to bring in new technologyand new capabilities into the
engineering,
engineering teams and alsothe wider organization as part
(02:14):
of my role as the point ofcontact and lead for mixed
reality in the UK.
Working closely across all ofthe countries that NBDA deal with
Salvatore and colleagues in Franceand Italy as well and looking after
and trying to push the technologyinto all the different departments
(02:35):
so we can really make sure thatMBDA is on the cutting edge of its
technology.
Fantastic,
thank you gentlemen and thank you foragreeing to join us in this podcast.
Salvatore, let's go to you then.
So what are the most important andimpactful use cases for XR technologies
within MBDA and how do you alignthat with your operational goals?
(02:59):
For our side,
I work in manufacturingdepartment so we are seeking on
two different use cases.
One about the classical blue collarcivil squad training to train better
our
operator to do some operation also before
to have the physical items available.
(03:23):
The second case is regardingAR and this is what
we'd like
to reach in this yearworking with also with a
NACO and is regarding the assistance of
operator during theoperation. Our main concern
(03:47):
is about the device to choosebecause AR technologies not
so clear as the voir.
So we are seeking on new
devices in terms of headsetbecause we need to work without
completely hands-free to allow theoperator to assembly and integrate
(04:11):
our item on shop floor.
Fantastic, thank you And Greg?
So for me,
within mechanical engineering weare very keen to make sure that we
utilize XR technologies with things
(04:32):
like design reviews,
making sure that we canhave that collaborative
conversation between not onlyour design partners but also
between our design teamsand our manufacturing teams.
At the moment we're concentratingon just within one single
(04:54):
country.
But the great thing about XR technologyis that we can quickly bring in
experts from different departmentsacross the whole of MBDA
and have them join in with thosecollaborative design reviews.
We found that by doingthis it does help with,
(05:15):
well first of all travel costs,
it makes things a lot easierfor us to use but also it does
make, it brings a lot of people together.
It has that more collaborative feeling,
that more engaging feelingthan we have with just doing
(05:36):
a video call and wefound that we can often
get to the resolutionquicker by doing that.
So as part of our goals oftrying to make things cheaper,
trying to make things more efficient,
especially during the designand manufacturing processes,
we're finding that XR reallydoes help achieve those goals.
(06:01):
Fantastic, thank you. AndGreg, following on from that,
it's all about the benefits.
So how has XR technology transformedyour workflows and delivered measurable
benefits such as
efficiency and safety improvements?
And sto I'll come to youafter Greg's response.
(06:22):
For us at the moment,
some of the main kind of efficienciesand safety improvements we've been
finding is being ableto train the operators
a lot earlier in the designprocess or the lifecycle process,
giving users access tomodels to allow them to
(06:46):
train with work instructions that we don't
need the physical object in front of us.
This means that the kind ofmuscle memory can be built in,
although the object may not be there,knowing how big something is, knowing
(07:07):
the issues with the room layouts, with
factory plan layouts,
we can start to assessall of this well before we
manufacture our first object.
It means also we can do a lotof testing with things that,
or training with objects and
(07:32):
products that we reallydon't want people to get
wrong.
It means that we canstart to train people on
explosive.
It means that we can startto train people with products
(07:52):
that are potentially explosiveor dangerous or harmful
and not have any worriesfor anything going wrong.
The virtual product allowsus to keep training,
make sure we get things right and ifthere is an issue inside the training then
we just reset the trainingmodule and start again.
(08:15):
That's interesting. Thankyou Greg. Salvatore?
Okay.
I can use more or less the samebenefits that Greg already mentioned
about the availabilityof the physical item.
One of the main benefitsabout our virtual training,
most of the time we do not haveyet our material available in the
(08:36):
shop floor so we can trainour newcomers so our resources
before to have the physical item.
The second main improvement was aboutthe other use cases that I mentioned was
regarding the reducing ofnon added value operation.
Up to now we work with a lot ofpaper or digital content that are
(09:00):
not completely interactive withthe AR headset set or AR tablet.
We can use directly digital instruction
and interactive flow to recordall the information that we need
on different kind of item.
That's great, thank you.Okay, so last question.
(09:22):
We'll start with sto.
What are the biggestchallenges in implementing XR solutions that you've found
and how have you been addressing them?
Our main challenges aretwo and are about one,
the device to choose and the secondone was about the security constraints
because more of devices thatare now developing for AR for
(09:45):
example are Android basis.
Up to now we cannot manage this kindof device at an enterprise level and
we need to are talking withour security and cybersecurity
department to find out which are thebetter strategy to overcome these
kind of challenges about device.
(10:07):
We are expecting thatsome of the main players
can develop some see-through devicesthat are very, very few up to now.
Orens
will be out of sub portuntil maybe within 2027
and Magic Leap it's too expensiveand not so easy to manage.
(10:29):
So we are waiting and weare working also with Aria
to watch out to pay attentionto new technology that they will
develop.
Thank you. And Greg,any additions to that?
I mean for me I find that
(10:51):
mixed reality XR is still a little bit
of a capability that a number of
older managers maybe do not want to
or do not see the benefits of using.
(11:11):
We're growing up in more of atechnological world than ever before
and
it's difficult to look into that crystalball and see where we're going to be,
where anyone's going tobe in five, 10 years time.
I think the technological advancesthat are being made with the
(11:32):
likes of AI and XR are really,
really fascinating and really kind ofintriguing and seeing how we could utilize
that technology.
We find that by pushing that technologyand we're trying to be on the
front edge of that as much as we can that
(11:53):
as Salvatore said,
the security issues that being in thecompany that we are means that we're
always having to push oursecurity teams and quite
rightly,
making sure that we push thetechnology itself. Making sure we speak
to the likes of Apple andSamsung and Microsoft,
(12:17):
giving them the issues that we have,
the security constraints that we have andmaking sure that everything that we do
follows the constraints that we have in
place for obviously the right reasons.
By doing this,
it means that things areharder for us to implement.
(12:38):
They take a little bitlonger to implement.
However we can make sure that theprocesses that we have in place are robust
and we can truly bringin some good capability.
So I think the challenges really forus are trying to keep on pushing that
capability,
showcasing that withinthe different departments
(12:59):
across the whole of MBDA as a group and
working closely witharea to show not only to
our in-house security teams,
but also the securityteams within Microsoft
and VI and all sorts to show that weneed to work together to make sure we
(13:23):
provide great and greatservice that fits all needs.
Gentlemen, thank you verymuch for your insights.
It's really great listening to you.
I know you're on the leadingedge of some of this technology,
but it's great to understand some of thechallenges that you're working with and
hopefully as I said,
we can all work together to overcomethem because they are similar in lots of
(13:45):
different organizations.
So please keep up the good work and thankyou very much for spending some time
with the area and talking backyour XR journey. Thank you.
Hello, I'm Karen Quatromoni,
Director of Public Relationsfor Object Management Group.
Welcome to our ObjectManagement Group podcast series.
At OMG,
we're known for driving industrystandards and building tech communities.
Today we're here with the AugmentedReality for the Enterprise Alliance
(00:24):
- AREA.
It is the only global nonprofitmember-based organization dedicated to
widespread adoption ofinteroperable AR enabled enterprise
systems.
We're here today withSalvatore Errico and Greg
White from MBDA systems. Mark Sage,
(00:45):
the executive director of the AREA,
will lead today's session. Thank you.
Hey, hello everybody andwelcome to our latest podcast.
Our podcast are really here to helpinform the ecosystem about what's
happening in the XR space andI'm really excited to have
(01:06):
a couple of experts in this field.
I've been lucky enough to beworking and MBDA who would
introduced themselves to minutehave been area members for a while.
So we have Salvatore and Greg from MBDA.
So Salvatore,
maybe you could start and just introduceyourself and your role at MBDA and then
(01:27):
we'll hand over to Greg.
Hi, I am Salvatore Errico,
industrial engineer from MBDA and I work
mostly on AR and XR technologies,
mostly on AR in the lastperiod and I'm involved also
in our research and technologygroup as a consultant.
(01:51):
Yep, perfect. So thanks Mark.
I'm Greg White from MBDA in the UK.
I'm in the mechanical engineering teamand looking after all of their innovation
to try to bring in new technologyand new capabilities into the
engineering,
engineering teams and alsothe wider organization as part
(02:14):
of my role as the point ofcontact and lead for mixed
reality in the UK.
Working closely across all ofthe countries that NBDA deal with
Salvatore and colleagues in Franceand Italy as well and looking after
and trying to push the technologyinto all the different departments
(02:35):
so we can really make sure thatMBDA is on the cutting edge of its
technology.
Fantastic,
thank you gentlemen and thank you foragreeing to join us in this podcast.
Salvatore, let's go to you then.
So what are the most important andimpactful use cases for XR technologies
within MBDA and how do you alignthat with your operational goals?
(02:59):
For our side,
I work in manufacturingdepartment so we are seeking on
two different use cases.
One about the classical blue collarcivil squad training to train better
our
operator to do some operation also before
to have the physical items available.
(03:23):
The second case is regardingAR and this is what
we'd like
to reach in this yearworking with also with a
NACO and is regarding the assistance of
operator during theoperation. Our main concern
(03:47):
is about the device to choosebecause AR technologies not
so clear as the voir.
So we are seeking on new
devices in terms of headsetbecause we need to work without
completely hands-free to allow theoperator to assembly and integrate
(04:11):
our item on shop floor.
Fantastic, thank you And Greg?
So for me,
within mechanical engineering weare very keen to make sure that we
utilize XR technologies with things
(04:32):
like design reviews,
making sure that we canhave that collaborative
conversation between not onlyour design partners but also
between our design teamsand our manufacturing teams.
At the moment we're concentratingon just within one single
(04:54):
country.
But the great thing about XR technologyis that we can quickly bring in
experts from different departmentsacross the whole of MBDA
and have them join in with thosecollaborative design reviews.
We found that by doingthis it does help with,
(05:15):
well first of all travel costs,
it makes things a lot easierfor us to use but also it does
make, it brings a lot of people together.
It has that more collaborative feeling,
that more engaging feelingthan we have with just doing
(05:36):
a video call and wefound that we can often
get to the resolutionquicker by doing that.
So as part of our goals oftrying to make things cheaper,
trying to make things more efficient,
especially during the designand manufacturing processes,
we're finding that XR reallydoes help achieve those goals.
(06:01):
Fantastic, thank you. AndGreg, following on from that,
it's all about the benefits.
So how has XR technology transformedyour workflows and delivered measurable
benefits such as
efficiency and safety improvements?
And sto I'll come to youafter Greg's response.
(06:22):
For us at the moment,
some of the main kind of efficienciesand safety improvements we've been
finding is being ableto train the operators
a lot earlier in the designprocess or the lifecycle process,
giving users access tomodels to allow them to
(06:46):
train with work instructions that we don't
need the physical object in front of us.
This means that the kind ofmuscle memory can be built in,
although the object may not be there,knowing how big something is, knowing
(07:07):
the issues with the room layouts, with
factory plan layouts,
we can start to assessall of this well before we
manufacture our first object.
It means also we can do a lotof testing with things that,
or training with objects and
(07:32):
products that we reallydon't want people to get
wrong.
It means that we canstart to train people on
explosive.
It means that we can startto train people with products
(07:52):
that are potentially explosiveor dangerous or harmful
and not have any worriesfor anything going wrong.
The virtual product allowsus to keep training,
make sure we get things right and ifthere is an issue inside the training then
we just reset the trainingmodule and start again.
(08:15):
That's interesting. Thankyou Greg. Salvatore?
Okay.
I can use more or less the samebenefits that Greg already mentioned
about the availabilityof the physical item.
One of the main benefitsabout our virtual training,
most of the time we do not haveyet our material available in the
(08:36):
shop floor so we can trainour newcomers so our resources
before to have the physical item.
The second main improvement was aboutthe other use cases that I mentioned was
regarding the reducing ofnon added value operation.
Up to now we work with a lot ofpaper or digital content that are
(09:00):
not completely interactive withthe AR headset set or AR tablet.
We can use directly digital instruction
and interactive flow to recordall the information that we need
on different kind of item.
That's great, thank you.Okay, so last question.
(09:22):
We'll start with sto.
What are the biggestchallenges in implementing XR solutions that you've found
and how have you been addressing them?
Our main challenges aretwo and are about one,
the device to choose and the secondone was about the security constraints
because more of devices thatare now developing for AR for
(09:45):
example are Android basis.
Up to now we cannot manage this kindof device at an enterprise level and
we need to are talking withour security and cybersecurity
department to find out which are thebetter strategy to overcome these
kind of challenges about device.
(10:07):
We are expecting thatsome of the main players
can develop some see-through devicesthat are very, very few up to now.
Orens
will be out of sub portuntil maybe within 2027
and Magic Leap it's too expensiveand not so easy to manage.
(10:29):
So we are waiting and weare working also with Aria
to watch out to pay attentionto new technology that they will
develop.
Thank you. And Greg,any additions to that?
I mean for me I find that
(10:51):
mixed reality XR is still a little bit
of a capability that a number of
older managers maybe do not want to
or do not see the benefits of using.
(11:11):
We're growing up in more of atechnological world than ever before
and
it's difficult to look into that crystalball and see where we're going to be,
where anyone's going tobe in five, 10 years time.
I think the technological advancesthat are being made with the
(11:32):
likes of AI and XR are really,
really fascinating and really kind ofintriguing and seeing how we could utilize
that technology.
We find that by pushing that technologyand we're trying to be on the
front edge of that as much as we can that
(11:53):
as Salvatore said,
the security issues that being in thecompany that we are means that we're
always having to push oursecurity teams and quite
rightly,
making sure that we push thetechnology itself. Making sure we speak
to the likes of Apple andSamsung and Microsoft,
(12:17):
giving them the issues that we have,
the security constraints that we have andmaking sure that everything that we do
follows the constraints that we have in
place for obviously the right reasons.
By doing this,
it means that things areharder for us to implement.
(12:38):
They take a little bitlonger to implement.
However we can make sure that theprocesses that we have in place are robust
and we can truly bringin some good capability.
So I think the challenges really forus are trying to keep on pushing that
capability,
showcasing that withinthe different departments
(12:59):
across the whole of MBDA as a group and
working closely witharea to show not only to
our in-house security teams,
but also the securityteams within Microsoft
and VI and all sorts to show that weneed to work together to make sure we
(13:23):
provide great and greatservice that fits all needs.
Gentlemen, thank you verymuch for your insights.
It's really great listening to you.
I know you're on the leadingedge of some of this technology,
but it's great to understand some of thechallenges that you're working with and
hopefully as I said,
we can all work together to overcomethem because they are similar in lots of
(13:45):
different organizations.
So please keep up the good work and thankyou very much for spending some time
with the area and talking backyour XR journey. Thank you.
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