Using AR to Keep the Temporary Lights On, with Aggreko’s Walter Davis XR for Business

Aggreko’s in the business of temporary power - you need an outdoor installation set up for electricity? They’re who to call. But that means that the less time to train, the better. Walter Davis explains how AR is helping trim some time off a new employee’s intake.







Alan: Hey, everybody, welcome to
the XR for Business podcast with your host, Alan Smithson. Today,
we're speaking with Walter Davis, head of talent and learning
technology at Aggreko. We'll be learning about how they're using XR
to train technicians and speed up their time to competency, for new
and existing employees. All that and more on the XR for Business
podcast.



Walter, welcome to the show.



Walter: Thanks, Alan. Glad to be
here.



Alan: Really excited. Why don't
you start by telling us your role at Aggreko and how you started
working in XR in this role?



I think first thing to do might help to
paint a picture of maybe what Aggreko does, which will help in then
showing how we're applying augmented reality to our services. So,
Aggreko is the largest provider of temporary power and cooling
solutions. We work in over 100 countries and we power things like
Super Bowl here in the US, which many of you might know, or the
Olympics that are coming up in Japan. That's another project we're
doing. We also work everywhere, from remote parts of Africa, to
powering up a data center that needs some backup power. So we're sort
of everywhere in the background, if you would. Just ensuring that
major events and operations run smoothly. And with that, obviously,
we need to ensure that we are providing an expert service and
minimize any potential downtime. We need to have expert staff to
support that.



Alan: So basically, if the
lights stay on, you guys are there.



Walter: Exactly. That's a great
way of putting it. We make it a point to ensure that we have a highly
reliable service.



Alan: So I was reading, Aggreko
specializes in seven key areas, oil and gas, manufacturing, mining,
petrochemicals, construction. And then events, the live events thing
almost seems like an add-on to this, but it seems to fit perfectly.



Walter: It does, yeah. So events
are really what we're known for, right? I mean, that's where we will
pop up on occasion. Actually, I could say that we are actually in
one-- we're in a recent country music video in the background,
because we are powering the stage that they recorded the music video
at. But yeah, like I said, keeping the lights on, making sure that
entertainment can happen, events can happen, and everybody has a
comfortable experience.



Alan: So how does VR/AR/XR
relate to temporary power?




Walter: With the nature of our
business -- as we operate in over 100 countries -- we operate very
broadly but very agilely. And one of the challenges that we tend to
sometimes have is ensuring that we can bring new hires and products
together really in that introductory period of time, when someone is
just joining the organization. We don't always necessarily have every
type of fleet available for them to familiarize themselves with and
educate themselves on, to start developing those competencies. And
where we're seeing AR in particular, is in allowing those individuals
to gain that knowledge really right when they join the organization.
They're able to go through an immersive experience in full scale, so
as if the product was right in front of them. Going-- both
familiarizing themselves with the key components and aspects of the
product, but also going through a key service procedures th