Global Operations Strategy / CaseVR

Our vision is to bring the factory to the classroom by integrating virtual reality (VR) in production and operations management courses. The main educational objective of integrating VR was to enhance the students¡¯ learning experience and learning outcomes. We provide the students the effective learning experience of exploring a real factory environment. At the same time, we circumvent the many administrative and financial limitations of field visits. Due to developments in VR technologies, VR offers excellent opportunities to do so.

VR is an artificial environment that is presented to the user in such a way that the user experiences it as a close-to-real environment. Simple forms of VR are 3-D images and videos that are explored with wearable VR viewers or a computer interface.

In partnership with the ABB Group (hereafter ABB), we integrated VR technology in a course assignment. To solve the assignment, students visited virtual factory environments, which supplemented other material available online and in-class lectures. The virtual factory environment comprises five facilities of ABB, located in Switzerland, Germany, and Finland, which the students could explore without having to visit physically. The ABB VR app ¡°360 VR Tours¡± can be downloaded free of charge on Apple App Store and Google Play. The app encompasses 360-degree videos and still pictures, blended with additional instructions and information, such as factory layout drawings. In the app, students can visit a number of predefined areas in the factory in any order they like.