Virtual reality can help with cost saving opportunities

One of the UK’s most prominent protective packaging distributors, Macfarlane Packaging, has joined forces with Microsoft to bring virtual reality into the distribution industry.

With the latest technology available in virtual reality systems, the real world can be merged with the virtual world, to identify improvements to efficiency and any cost saving opportunities there may be.

The HaloLens headsets help customers visualise life size, 3D holograms of the real world; for instance, packing stations where infill machinery is used, identifying and optimising storage space, palletisation and transportation, and helping customers to redesign packaging areas which in turn helps with increasing production. This is information a warehouse equipment manufacturer may find helpful when setting up a new warehouse or distribution centre.

Macfarlane Packaging has set up an Innovation Lab in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, where customers seeking efficient packaging solutions are invited to try the new technology to see where savings can be made. Accompanied by a packaging expert from Macfarlane’s, they will walk a virtual reality path through their own packaging facility to see if any potential changes to their operation are viable, and how they can be made. The HaloLens equipment is also fully portable, so is ideal to use on site at a customer’s facilities.

The Technical Design Manager at the Innovation Lab, Richard Garratt, describes the HaloLens as:

“Exciting technology with many new advantages for our customers.”

He adds:

“We can make smarter decisions together and reach the approval stage much faster.”

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