Omron Offers Virtual Tour of its Automation Center to Avoid the Three C’s
OMRON is offering a virtual tour of its Tokyo Automation Center to help customers find solutions to their production challenges without exposing themself to COVID-19.
The spread of COVID-19 has complicated many aspects of daily life across the world and introduced significant challenges for facilities seeking to implement new automation solutions.
3D walkthrough rendering of the virtualized ATC-TOKYO site used in OMRON's remote tours. Image courtesy of OMRON.
Supporting Factory Automation During a Pandemic
OMRON recently announced that it offers virtual tours of its flagship Automation Technology Center (ATC) located in Tokyo, the largest of its 37 ATCs. OMRON has set up this interactive virtual tour with two main problems in mind. The first problem they seek to solve is how customers can still benefit from the ATC experience without exposing themselves or others to COVID-19. They are also setting out to understand how they can continue to actively support customers as they seek factory automation solutions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities.
Virtual Tour of OMRON's ATC Tokyo Site
The virtual tour allows customers to view the ATC and its factory automation content on their computers. Visitors will experience a 3D 360° walkthrough of the Tokyo ATC (which just physically opened on January 22, 2020) that allows them to view video demonstrations of machines and systems related directly to the issues and challenges they face.
This tour allows customers to interact with OMRON equipment and solutions related to IIoT, AI, robotics, and other aspects of automation.
Like a physical visit to an ATC, virtual visitors can remotely experience demonstration/verification processes and technology training processes. OMRON includes its extensive product line of more than 200,000 different control devices in the facility tour.
In addition, a seminar room is set aside for virtual technology training allowing customers to learn how to implement their new equipment and controls.
An example image from the ATC-Tokyo virtual tour showing what the user sees and how they can interact with different equipment and solutions. Image courtesy of OMRON.
Note that one of the critical aspects of these virtual tours is collaborating with members from OMRON's development function and ATC experts without anyone being exposed to viruses, physical or otherwise.
The Three C's
This virtual approach to experiencing ATC-Tokyo helps both OMRON employees and virtual visitors avoid the three Cs that lead to the spread of viruses (including COVID-19): closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings. Manufacturing and production facilities can continue their search for factory automation solutions without risking their employees' health or spreading the virus to other locations.
This is especially important for facilities that are looking for ways to leverage cutting edge automation technology to not only increase productivity but, more importantly, reduce the health risks faced by their employees.
The virtual tour of OMRON's flagship ATC-Tokyo location allows customers to see OMRON's technology in action without having to be in the facilities physically. By supporting their customer efforts toward avoiding closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings, it provides them the opportunity to still do business and support customers even amid a global pandemic. Eventually, OMRON plans to offer such tours in Chinese and English, but the current tour is only Japanese.
