Richard Hershey is one in all about 50 technicians licensed to work on the Ford GT supercar, and generally the automaker will ask him to depart his job as lead tech at Pompano Ford in Pompano Seaside, Fla., to go to different dealerships to work on the high-performance sports activities automotive.
Hershey and different Ford dealership technicians now have a brand new device for his or her toolbox, one which paid speedy dividends in troubleshooting a latest drawback with a GT.
It is referred to as SWIS, for “See What I See,” and it is extremely just like a wearable small-screen laptop full with voice- activated instructions. The headset’s eyeglasses permit Ford’s Technical Help Heart to see what the dealership’s technician sees and recommend fixes whereas permitting the technician to have the ability to work with each palms.
Hershey was despatched to analyze why a GT would go into failsafe mode as soon as it hit 160 mph on the racetrack. With out SWIS, a logical restore would have been to switch the transaxle — at a considerable value to the proprietor. However Hershey eliminated the again of the automotive to point out the transmission cooler’s temperatures, which aren’t seen with the physique panels in place.
After with the ability to see contained in the automobile by way of Hershey’s SWIS, the parents on the technical help middle concurred with him {that a} change of sensors would repair the difficulty.
“That is cheaper, user-friendly and faster,” Hershey stated. “On one automotive, it might prevent a month. With out the SWIS machine, they’d simply be guessing.”
Ford is rolling out the HMT-1 (for head-mounted pill) assisted-reality system, made by RealWear, to just about 3,000 of its dealerships nationwide. Dealerships will obtain one or two of the gadgets, which retail for about $1,800 per unit — with quantity reductions accessible from RealWear.
The GT is what initially related RealWear, based mostly in Vancouver, Wash., and the automaker. Ford wished a premium stage of customer support to accompany its particular sports activities automotive. It labored so properly that it grew to Ford’s mass-market autos.
RealWear is a “wearables” firm that makes {hardware} for employees who want using each palms to finish their jobs. Workspace options such because the Navigator 500 and HMT-1 headsets are liberating technicians’ palms in order that they will full jobs sooner and extra precisely than earlier than.
The system is also a cloud-enabled, enterprise-level machine that connects with a back-end system. RealWear has developed a hands-free person interface based mostly on the Android working system that makes use of voice instructions. Battery life is nice for about a whole shift.
Finally, the system will permit a technician to diagnose after which order elements instantly whereas sporting the headset to right no matter drawback exists.
“We expect that is going to be the brand new approach autos get serviced,” stated Sanjay Jhawar, RealWear CEO and one of many firm’s founders.
And with extra hybrid and electrical autos coming on-line, technicians should adapt to the educational curves of the merchandise.
“The everyday vendor service group nonetheless would not have sufficient experience on servicing electrical automobiles,” Jhawar stated.
Along with Ford, different automaker prospects embrace Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mini.
Bob Moore Ford in Oklahoma Metropolis acquired its HMT-1 equipment and the primary time Service Supervisor Jeff Gann put it on individuals requested, “What the heck are you sporting?” Gann activated the unit by logging on, and he stated the setup course of was fairly simple with step-by-step directions.
He admits some technicians are hesitant to attempt to new know-how.
“Anytime there’s change, there’s sure to be resistance,” he stated. “The tech’s perspective is that it is one thing to take extra of their time. As with something new, there’s not a lot pleasure about it, however hopefully, they’ll see its benefit after we begin utilizing it.”
Jorge Juarez, mounted operations director at Vancouver Auto Group in Washington, is a proponent.
“A technician right here has used it twice and he is actually impressed,” Juarez stated.
Following an help for a transmission concern a number of weeks in the past, the tech got here to Juarez final week asking, “The place’s the headset?” He got here again an hour later and the issue was solved.
Many senior technicians query the necessity for brand new instruments. Alternatively, youthful technicians gravitate towards the know-how Ford and different producers are adopting.
“I welcome the brand new stuff,” stated Juarez. “Now we have some dinosaurs, and we do love our dinosaurs. We won’t change their data.”
Juarez stated youthful individuals coming into the office want the assistance of the most recent know-how as a result of there’s a lot extra in autos right this moment.
“You’ll find an issue, however there could possibly be one other drawback lurking behind that one,” he stated. “I believe it is good, and with the hybrid autos and electrical autos popping out, we’d like all the assistance we will get.”
Hershey stated he needs SWIS has been accessible in 2017 when Pompano Ford was making an attempt to determine what was fallacious with the Broward County Sheriff’s Division’s new Ford Focus EV.
The automotive would simply not run, and Ford’s schematics didn’t match what Hershey noticed as he tried to troubleshoot the automotive, which had been out of service for almost a month. Throughout that point, a area service engineer and two of the automobile’s designers arrived from Ford headquarters in Michigan to verify that one thing was amiss. Hershey thinks SWIS would have saved time, cash and energy.
He stated he positively prefers the newer approach of connecting with consultants at Ford.
“We had a technical hotline,” Hershey stated of pre-SWIS occasions.
“We might undergo Ford Oasis with its catalog of identified points for troublesome issues, however that might take as much as every week for them to get again to us, leading to loads of effort and time and an sad buyer.”